African Union Refuses to Recognize Libyan Rebels

By Chika Onyeani ~

A rebel fighter about to machete another black African to death

"The decision of the African Union as articulated by both President Zuma and Dr. Ping is totally sound; however, not for the reasons they adduced, but for the fact that the rebels need to account for the killings of black Africans, not for the pretensions of "confusing them as mercenaries hired by Gaddafi," but because of the anti-black, racist and innate hatred of black Africans, even though there are a million dark Africans who are Libyan citizens and are maltreated as well. There is no reason beating about the bush with regards to this point: the African Union must finally come to terms about the racist attitude of Arabs and especially Arab-Africans towards mainland Africans. In the past, the African Union had dealt with this issue by sweeping it under the carpet for such a long time in the name of a united Africa. To do otherwise, is a disservice to the millions of mainland Africans who live in the other 48 states of the continent. It is to the ultimate commendation of Dr. Ping to have come out and boldly state the obvious: the so-called Libyan rebels are killing black Africans from mainland Africa, pretending that they are "mercenaries" hired by Gaddafi rather than their innate hatred of black Africans."

Before it was just a 'rumor', but yesterday African Union Commission Chairman, Dr. Jean Ping, came out boldly to state the fact that the Libyan rebels under the so-called Transitional National Council have been engaged in massive killings of black Africans from mainland Africa, as well as Libyans who have darker skins. This is a happening in Libya that the well-oiled propaganda machine of the Western media has conveniently refused to tell, but rather churning out stories about killings by pro-Gaddafi forces. The Western media is in such a frenzied hysteria about hanging Gaddafi that they have totally ignored massive abuses by the Transitional National Council.

Dr. Ping said that Libyan rebels may be indiscriminately killing black people in Libya because they have confused innocent migrant workers with mercenaries. He told reporters Monday that this is one of the reasons the AU is refusing to recognize Libya's rebel Transitional National Council as the country's interim government. He said "We need clarification because the TNC seems to confuse black people with mercenaries. They are killing normal workers."

On Friday, 26th August, President Jacob Zuma of South Africa had made it plain that the African Union would not be recognizing the Libyan rebels soon. This is after the 15-member Peace and Security summit had met, and after an address by Tanzanian-born former foreign minister and now United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Asha Rose Migiro had pleaded for the African Union to recognize the Transitional National Council. Said Dr. Migiro, "We must help the country’s new leaders to establish an effective, legitimate government - a government that represents and speaks for all the country’s diverse people; a government that can deliver on its people’s hope." But the 15-member committee disregard her pleas and voted not to recognize the rebels.

Speaking after the Peace and Security meeting, President Zuma who chaired the meeting, noted that ""The reality on the ground is that there is fighting going on in Tripoli. Is that not a reality? People are still dying [in] very heavy fighting. That is the situation as we understand it, which is a reality in Libya." He continued, "And we are taking our position informed by that reality. We are looking at the reality from our point of view."

The decision of the African Union as articulated by both President Zuma and Dr. Ping is totally sound; however, not for the reasons they adduced, but for the fact that the rebels need to account for the killings of black Africans, not for the pretensions of "confusing them as mercenaries hired by Gaddafi," but because of the anti-black, racist and innate hatred of black Africans, even though there are a million dark Africans who are Libyan citizens and are maltreated as well. There is no reason beating about the bush with regards to this point: the African Union must finally come to terms about the racist attitude of Arabs and especially Arab-Africans towards mainland Africans. In the past, the African Union had dealt with this issue by sweeping it under the carpet for such a long time in the name of a united Africa. To do otherwise, is a disservice to the millions of mainland Africans who live in the other 48 states of the continent. It is to the ultimate commendation of Dr. Ping to have come out and boldly state the obvious: the so-called Libyan rebels are killing black Africans from mainland Africa, pretending that they are "mercenaries" hired by Gaddafi rather than their innate hatred of black Africans.

In a March31, 2011 article, Mr. Wolfgang Weber wrote, "The opposition forces in Libya attempting to march on Tripoli with the assistance of American, French and British bombs are far removed from the image of innocent civilians fighting for freedom and democracy promoted by the media and political circles."

He quoted an article by Gunnar Heinsohn, author of Encyclopaedia of Genocide (Rowohlt, 1998), in which Heinsohn quoted well-known Zimbabwean journalist and film-maker Farai Sevenzo that dealt with the massacres perpetrated by the so-called "rebels" against black Africans. He quotes Sevenzo as writing, "“Because mercenaries from Chad and Mali are presumed to be fighting for him [Gaddafi], the lives of a million African refugees and thousands of African migrants are at risk. A Turkish construction worker told the British radio station BBC: ‘We had seventy to eighty people from Chad working for our company. They were massacred with pruning shears and axes, accused by the attackers of being Gaddafi’s troops. The Sudanese people were massacred. We saw it for ourselves.’ ”

Sevenso further writes, “All the stops of international criminal law have been pulled against those prepared to bloodily defend their power. The material assets at risk are meticulously listed. But neither in the text of the resolution nor in the speeches of US Secretary of State Clinton or French President Sarkozy is any mention made of warnings or legal threats directed to the insurgents. The use of ‘mercenaries’ by the Libyan leadership is expressly condemned. But genocidal acts conducted under the same pretext—such as the mass killings of black African workers reported by Farai Sevenzo—go unmentioned…. A cloak of complete silence is being thrown up surrounding the deeds of his [Gaddafi’s] opponents.”

Weber wrote further as follows, "On February 28, the Arab TV station Al Jazeera reported the racist massacre of black African workers by so-called “freedom fighters” as follows: “Dozens of workers from sub-Saharan Africa, it is feared, have been killed and hundreds are hiding because angry opponents of the government are hunting down black African mercenaries, witnesses reported…. According to official reports, about 90 Kenyans and 64 people from southern Sudan, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Zambia, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone and Burundi landed in Nairobi today.
“One of them, Julius Kiluu, a 60-year-old construction manager, told Reuters: ‘We were attacked by people from the village. They accused us of being murderous mercenaries. But in reality they simply refuse to tolerate us. Our camp was burnt down. Our company and our embassy helped us get to the airport.’

“Hundreds of black immigrants from the poorest African countries, who work mainly as low-wage day laborers in Libya, have been wounded by the rebels. From fear of being killed, some of them have refrained from going to a doctor.”

This is a narrative that the Western media refuses to acknowledge and publish, in their zeal to portray Moamar Gaddafi as a monster, bent on massacring his people. And moreso to lay their hands on Libya's oil and the $110 billion that Gaddafi invested for the Libyan people in Western banks. Already many of these banks have mismanaged billions of dollars of Libyan investment fund, and there is no better way of covering their criminal behaviors than supporting the Transitional National Council, with all the might of NATO. Mind you, what I am saying here has nothing to do with the fact that I vehemently abhor African dictators like Gaddafi who stay in office for life and then engineer their children to take over from them. I am entirely for Gaddafi leaving the stage in Libya, but not with the type of arrogance display of white European messianic zeal that the NATO countries have perpetrated in Libya.

Before the question is asked about the 22 African countries that have recognized the Transitional National Council, let me just say this. The powerhouse of African countries, Nigeria, has been cited as one of the new countries that have recognized the Libyan rebels. I must state here that Nigeria has an axe to grind, legitimately of course, against Gaddafi who had called for the break-up of Nigeria into two countries on religious basis, Muslim and Christians but went further to add insult to injury by calling for the breakup of the countries into six geo-political zones. On the other hand, President Abdoulaye Wade, who was one of the first major African leaders to recognize the rebel group and even flew to Benghazi to offer his support, is trying to curry the favor of Western countries in his quest to stay in office and manipulate himself into a third term. When the time comes, Sarkozy, Cameron, Merkel and Obama will abandon him just as they conspired to effect regime change in Libya.

To deny recognition for the Transitional National Council, is the best decision the African Union has made for a long time now, and it needs to stay steadfast in its position until the rebels in Libya come forward to account for their barbaric and brutal massacre of black Africans from mainland Africa.

Chika Onyeani is the author of the internationally-acclaimed and No.1 bestselling book, "Capitalist Nigger: The Road to Success - A Spider Web Doctrine," as well as the blockbuster novel, "The Broederbond Conspiracy (aka The Black James Bond) adapted by the San Francis State University to teach students who to write a spy novel. He is the Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of the award-winning African Sun Times.

visit the African Sun Times