Kofi Annan proves a point

Kofi Annan proves a point
By Kofi Akordor
AT first it appeared impossible, following the contempt with which the peace overtures of the African Union (AU) were treated. At one stage the peacemaker, out of frustration, threatened to withdraw if the two factions would not shift from their entrenched positions.
The AU Chairman at the time, President J.A. Kufuor of Ghana, was virtually an unwelcome guest when he attempted to respond to the conflict which was looming soon after the declaration of President Mwai Kibaki as the winner of the December 27, 2008 polls in Kenya.
The doors of carnage were opened and machete, gun, bow and arrow-wielding youth went on the rampage and, within days, hundreds were dead, with many more left injured and others in their thousands had to scamper to safety in neighbouring Uganda.
At the last count, more than 1,300 Kenyans were declared dead, while 600,000 others were displaced and had to seek refuge in camps in Kenya and Uganda. That was the outcome of a poll whose result was highly disputed, with ethnic and political sentiments bubbling over.
While all these were happening, the West, as usual, with no life and wealth at stake, were murmuring some weak appeals in the background, with threats of withdrawing aid, which did not make any impression on the combatants. They were silent on the generally held belief that Kibaki won the election fraudulently because he was not their target man. Hell would have come down if something close to what happened in Kenya had been reported in Zimbabwe.
The entry of Mr Kofi Annan, the Immediate Past Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN), in the peace-making process raised hopes for obvious reasons. Mr Annan’s stature as a seasoned international diplomat and statesman was not in dispute. That, coupled with the fact that he is a principled and peace-loving man, gave many Africans the hope that if anyone was in a position to bring peace to Kenya, that person should be Mr Annan.
After more than three weeks of protracted and sometimes acrimonious negotiations, Kenya’s rival politicians finally signed a peace agreement on Thursday, February 28, 2008 to end the post-election conflict which had reduced the once peaceful and healthy country which was the pride of acontinent full of conflicts to shambles, with wounds that will take many years to heal.
Under the peace deal, there will be a coalition government formed by Kibaki, who remains President, and Raila Odinga of the Orange Democratic Movement, who assumes the newly-created position of Prime Minister.
The most important thing, however, is that Mr Annan has proved a case and has once more established a point: That Africans are capable of solving their problems and that only they can be their own saviours and redeemers.
The Americans, who were shouting from a distance, suddenly found their voices, and with abundant money to spare, pledged US$25 million in humanitarian aid to sustain the peace effort. That effort should be commended, but what will US$25 million do to a people at one another’s throat? In other words, there can only be room for sharing that money after peace has been restored. However, in the heat of events, the Americans and Europeans were not ready to show their face once oil or some other natural resource that is of strategic importance was not at stake.
It happened in Liberia. For more than 14 years West African countries, led by Ghana and Nigeria, had to squeeze limited resources to bring peace to that war-ravaged country. The contribution of the international community was very minimal. The same was the situation in Sierra Leone. If ECOWAS countries had abandoned their neighbours in the two countries and placed all their hope in the Americans and the Europeans, those two countries would still be at war today.
Ironically, but not strangely, soon after ECOWAS was able to broker a peace deal for Liberia, under which the then President Charles Taylor vacated the Executive Mansion in Monrovia and took refuge in Nigeria to end the war, America and its allies in Europe wore their battle dress on human rights abuse and crimes against humanity.
Today, thanks to the machination and intrigues of America and its European allies, Charles Taylor is on trial in The Hague, The Netherlands. America’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan which have sent hundreds of thousands to their premature graves are hailed as wars against terror, whatever that means.
The conflict in the Darfur region in The Sudan has been raging for five years now without any sign of ending. America’s solution only starts and ends on the corridors of the UN Security Council. Meanwhile, more than 200,000 have been declared dead and millions displaced and living in horrible conditions.
Other conflict regions desperately in need of solution include Cote d’Ivoire, Eritrea and Somalia. Kenya is just another demonstration of the fact that foreign intervention can only augment what Africans can do for themselves. It can never be the main solution.
Kenya is also a reminder that political opportunism should not be allowed to destabilise our national equilibrium. The determination of a few people to attain or remain in power through any means is a threat to peace, stability and progress on the continent and it should be fought and crashed at all cost.