AU must back Syrian peace

to that of a charging rhino bull that brings everything on its way down for as long as it makes it get to its target. Unfortunately, a human being must not operate like a rhino. A human being is gifted with premeditation, planning, knowledge, wisdom and tactic yet these ingredients were very absent in Libya.
The madness was about regime change. The madness was about getting rid of Gaddafi. The madness was about getting to the vast oil reserves as soon as possible. The madness was about showing the world that Nato and Africom can do it and that Europe and America are the self-proclaimed policemen of the world.
Do what they say or you go! This is the latest dilemma of humanity, where superior weaponry is in the hands of a few big brothers with a proclivity to use them at will, regardless of the feelings and situation of the young brother. Now Mali is a troubled country, rebels in the north who had been insignificant in the political matrix of that country, suddenly gained access to superior weaponry through the Libyan war and are not unleashed untold suffering to the people of that country. Violence, murder, instability, hunger, disease, starvation and lack of access to medication have become the order of the day. It is a story Nato must be held accountable for, that Nato must, if sincere, help the people of that country climb out of.
In the same vein another drama is unfolding in Syria, where the West has tried all trick in the book to justify a military intervention. But China and Russia have cleverly thwarted every move. It is apparently clear that the motive is straight regime change.
Meeting after meeting has pointed at a foreign funded opposition, foreign funded rioters, foreign funded human rights activists and everything in the protest smells foreign. But friends of Syria prefer not to notice the fact that the protests in Syria actually achieved their goals of prompting president Bashar al-Assad’s regime to conduct political reforms.
There are even those among the Syrian opposition who are ready to negotiate with the current regime about creating a Government of National Unity.
The uncompromising position on the matter of the foreign opposition entities is explained by obvious limitations of their influence in the country and by their inability to come to power in a democratic way.
The recent meeting of the friends of Syria in Tunisia became yet another step in the attempt to resolve the Syrian crisis using the “Libyan scenario” and demonstrated the intention of its organisers to remove Assad using all means possible. It was actually more of an attempt to provide an appearance of legitimacy to the military invasion of Syria, especially taking into account the absence of relevant UN Security Council sanctions. In the case of repeat of the Libyan scenario, Syrian portable air defence missile system and its arsenal of chemical weapons can fall in to the hands of “AQIM”, Boko Haram” and other radical groups, which operate on the territory of Africa.
AU should take a firm stand against military invasion in Syria that can cause destabilisation not only of the Middle East but also of the African continent.
What happened in Libya and is causing problems in Mali is in fact what will happen if a military invasion of Syria is allowed. Those weapons will get into the wrong hands and spill into Africa and cause more problems for a continent that has by and large failed to constitute a homegrown military outfit to deal with its problems spots, allowing Nato and Africom to abuse their given mandate.
Africa must therefore support efforts by Russia and China to seek an internal settlement in Syria than an outright war that will end up with weapons falling into the hands of Boko Haram or Al Qaeda. — Day-Africa.com.
l Dr Mugunda wa Mukuti is a North African political scientist.