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Isdore Guvamombe Reflections
Back in the village, in the land of milk honey and dust, the ancestors and God gave each land its autochthons — the original people with authoritative historical claim to the land — and internationally, continents are reflective of this autochthonous mantra.

It is, therefore, foolhardy for another continent to deride the autochthons of another continent, because geopolitical issues can turn the world into a full scale war. The full input of this is that Africa, by far the continent that still harbours vast untapped natural resources, have been the target of subtle manoeuvres to regime change African leaders who protect the natural resources and make them benefit the indigenous people.

The United States in particular, and Western Europe in general, are losing sleep over Africa’s resources and would want to get rid of all African leaders that are deemed an impediment to their accessing of the natural resources. This has given birth to a hodgepodge of conflicts in Africa. Ironically, the same US and Europe that sponsored the conflicts want a claim to fame by pretending to solve the problems using military outfits such as NATO and Africom. Fetid!

All problems in Africa should be resolved by Africans and Africa has the means to solve its problems through the African Union, through social, political and economic strategies. The African Union has, of late, come up with a standby brigade, a military outfit that is still in its infancy but is certainly the future of the continent. It will be folly for Africa to think she can progress while it still subjects its survival on foreign security systems.

African leaders should co-ordinate through AU and must vehemently reject US, Europe, NATO or Africom and any other foreign body from settling in Africa.

It is stupid for NATO to want to have an office at the AU Headquarters or anywhere else because that should be viewed as a straight intrusion. Africans must view this move as Western Europe’s quest to strengthen military control and hegemony on Africa and promote their own interests.

It is never about Africa but about Western interests. The AU standby Brigade should be functional and put into effect in order to take full charge and control of the events in the continent. AU standby Brigade should be deployed in all hot spots and solve the problems.

If Africa fought colonialism and won, what then makes her fail to come up with a military force that can resolves her conflicts. The earlier African leaders realise the need to speed up the functioning of the African brigade, the better for the continent. Africa will never receive total independence unless she controls events that happen on her soil. AU can easily work with the United Nations in these troubled spots. It should be an organisation to organisation agreement.

The world should not be run the way the US wants but the way the world wants.

Nations should be respected and given equal status no matter how tiny.

Even when it comes to fighting international terrorism, the application of international law must not be selective but universal. It is unnecessary to have double standards as dictated by the US and its allies.

On that note, AU, EU and UN must all condemn countries like Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar for supporting the Islamic State’s attack on the Russian plane in Turkey and Egypt. It is should be recognised that the only sensible thing to do is to support the Russian government for its outstanding inroads in Syria. The impact ever since Russian intervened in Syria has been so huge and has been done within the limits of international law. The international law is clear that what is wrong is wrong and that what is wrong cannot be right because it has been done by the US. NO!

Muammar Gaddafi

Back to Africa. The current crop of leadership must have learnt from past mistakes in how NATO handled issues in Libya. The Libyan people are now poorer in economics, sleep and peace than they were under the slain Muammar Gaddafi. The Libyans regret ever allowing NATO to enter their territory. Bombs are dropping everywhere, guns blazing, freedom and peace are now a scarce commodity. The war rages on but the oil is going in millions of barrels to Europe while the Libyans slump into poverty. This is the price there are paying for allowing NATO to interfere in the internal politics of Libya.

Africa must have learnt from that. Today self-control and management of conflicts on the African soil should be the priority of African leaders. Africa for Africans.

African problems for African elders. African leaders should take charge of the continent in all aspects.