Africa leaders agree joint force

[bicentennial_baby]

African leaders meeting in Libya have agreed to set up a joint military force which could intervene to end civil wars or prevent genocide.

This is part of a sweeping agreement on defence and security in Africa signed after a two-day summit in Sirte.

The agreement is "a collective answer to threats, whether internal or external, over the continent," said Mozambique President, Joachim Chissano.

The summit rejected a Libyan plan to set up a single African army.


Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's plan, tabled at the last minute, had delayed the closing ceremony of the summit.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3496204.stm

[On the Road]

1. This is Really Good News

Considering what terrible governments many African states have, they're been surprisingly sensible about relations among African states.

When the Europeans freed their colonies, the boundaries were drawn without much regard for ethnic populations. Enemies were combined, tribes were divided -- it was a recipe for all-out war like the Indian partition. Yet how many wars have you ever heard of between African states? I can think of two brief wars in the 70's (Ethiopia-Somalia and Tanzania-Uganda).

Why is that? Largely because the Organization of African Unity agreed very early on NOT to challenge national borders, regardless of how little sense they make. War between countries is unanimously condemned.

The problem has been tribal wars and inter-ethnic conflicts -- Ethiopia/Eritrea, Somalia, Nigeria (Biafra), Rwanda/Burundi/Congo, Chad, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Liberia -- the list is endless. Whole states have devolved into death, chaos, greed, and armed gangs.

If this continental force gets legs, it could prevent the type of anarchy and genocide that never seems to stop. And it's much, much better that it's being done by the Africans themselves, without the political agenda of the US or any other foreign power imposed on it.