Museveni, Gaddafi clash in
Ethiopia
President Yoweri Museveni
on Tuesday night openly clashed with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, after the
two disagreed over the direction of the formation of a single government for
all African states.
According to sources at the summit, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe reportedly helped Mr Museveni take on Col. Gaddafi, who besides mooting the
single African government plan, also sought to be bestowed the title “King of
Kings”.
Col. Gaddafi reportedly clashed with Mr Museveni over his calls for speeding of the single African
government plan. Whereas Mr Museveni
calls for strengthening of regional blocs, a position he reiterated in
In what looked like a parliamentary debate characterised
by points of order, the two leaders also disagreed on the involvement of
traditional leaders by Col. Gaddafi in his pursuit of the United States of
Africa dream.
Col. Gaddafi sponsored Mr Museveni’s
National Resistance Army guerilla war that brought the Ugandan leader to power
in 1986.
ROCKY AFFAIR: Gaddafi (L) and Museveni (R) clashed over the idea of a
Their current disagreements could bring one of the longest political
relationships to an end. At the AU summit, Mr Museveni reportedly warned that he would arrest any
traditional leader in
The Ugandan government last month cancelled a summit of traditional leaders
across the continent convened in
The Ugandan Constitution bars traditional leaders from participating in
partisan politics. In Col. Gaddafi’s proposal for the single government,
However, with much opposition from the other African leaders, Col. Gaddafi
stormed out of the meeting at about
Asked why Col. Gaddafi had stormed out, Tanzanian Foreign Affairs Minister
Bernard Membe said Gaddafi ‘’may have felt unwell”.
The summit ended yesterday with no concrete agreement on the way forward over a
single government.
Col. Gaddafi said a special meeting of the group’s Council of Ministers
would meet in three months’ time to iron out what powers its newly created
African Union Authority should have.
This came after the 53-member group’s marathon talks that failed to agree on
ways to transform the current Africa Union Commission into an authority, a process
that will end with the creation of the “United States of Africa.”
Yesterday, at a meeting with journalists, Col. Gaddafi struck a conciliatory
figure, talking of his vision for a “continent that relies on itself and which
is a key player in world affairs.’’
He added that the continent has adopted a “step by step’’ approach to “this
historic effort’’ on a single government. But, AU Commission chairman Jean Ping
said ‘the whole process may take years.’’
According to Mr Ping, amending the AU Charter is
not a simple task and two thirds of the 53 states must accept to proceed with
the amendment.
Source: Daily Monitor