On the 9th of November 1999 Libya hosted the annual Conference
of African Heads of State in its desert city of Syrte.
This meeting would mark one before and after for the African
regional and international relations, because here was
first launched the idea of the African Union. Summoned
by the Libyan Leader, Muammar al Gadaffi, to thank them
for their support during the sanctions period, the representatives
of the continent's nations decided to leave aside the
inefficient Organization for the African Unity (OAU) and
give a step forward to the creation of a much tighter
structure. This Union, as the European model, would little
by little create a web of relations and interdependences
between the member states that would help develop economically
the continent, long drowned in the under performance,
would solve the conflicts that hindered the region and
would give a stronger voice in the international arena
to those countries too small or too weak to be taken into
account.
Libya soon assumed the leadership of this project
and started a hectic diplomatic activity in order to make
this project a reality. For this purpose, a Secretariat
for the African Union was created and given to a very
experienced politician, Dr. Ali Triki, well known
in the African diplomatic circles. As Dr. Triki says,
"the objective of this Union is certainly to unify
Africa, to develop our countries, to solve our problems,
to defend our continent as a whole, to raise the standards
of living of the Africans, etc. The objectives of the
OAU where to liberate our continent from foreign powers,
and we succeeded. Now we have another objective, that
is to unify Africa for economic, social and political
development".
As for Libya is concerned, the African Union represents
at the same time a challenge and one of the most exciting
opportunities in its history. Eng. Seif el Islam Gadaffi
doesn't hide the fears of many Libyans: "Libya
will also dissolve and disappear slowly in this big
black continent, it will be a small part of it and will
have to follow the policies and trends of the continent.
Little by little we will lose our sovereignty and our
independence, because we will have to accept one economic
policy and one foreign policy." This is true in
every integration project, as the Europeans know from
their own experience. Nevertheless, the benefits of
integration are clearly tangible, and Eng Seif explains:
"Africa represents a very attractive investment
opportunity for us. It is still a virgin continent and
you can find good investment opportunities there. At
the same time we can use Africa as an instrument to
defend ourselves and our interests from the superpowers
because we are part of that continent."
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The reasons
for the African underdevelopment are vast various and
differ from one country to another: continuous wars, draughts
that led to food crisis, institutional corruption, etc.
But there is one that many economists agree on. In the
colonial and postcolonial times, first the western Governments
and then the multinationals have taken advantage of the
huge natural resources of the country, transporting them
back to their metropolis and transforming them into manufactured
goods there, where the product gains its added value.
The weakness and disorganization of the African countries,
in many cases far weaker (financially and structurally
speaking) than the multinationals themselves have prevented
this trend to change for decades.
The Libyan plan for the African Union wants to prove an
alternative to this. Mr.
Mohammed Elhuwej, chairman of the Libyan Foreign Investment
Consulting and Advisory Board, a supervisory organization
for Libyan public investment, explains: "The added
value must be provided in the same country that provides
the raw material, and in this way we would provide development,
stability and employment." For this purpose, the
Libyan Arab Foreign Investment Company (LAFICO), a state
owned holding company created in the seventies to manage
Libyan industrial investments abroad, have designed a
daughter company specifically to invest in Africa: the
Libyan African Investment Company (LAAICO).
Mr. Elhuwej goes further. He wants to involve the western
world, especially Europe, in inverting the trend: "This
is a problem Europe has to face. If they invest in the
South, they will create employment there and there will
be less immigration in their countries. We have to implement
a "Marshall Plan" in Africa, because its development
will benefit all of us." Libya would be a good
starting point for companies interested in the continent,
for many reasons. Dr. Treki explains: "We have
many interests and joint ventures operating in the rest
of the continent in many areas like tourism, agriculture
and mining. (…) We are just trying to coordinate
the investment flows. But naturally, Libyan companies
have the expertise, the market knowledge and the political
ties that will facilitate the investments in Africa."
In February 2001, 41 nations signed the Constitutive
Act of the African Union, and in July 2002 the first
meeting of Heads of State of the African Union took
place in Durban, South Africa, replacing the troubled
OUA and paving the way for a future African federation
similar to the European Union.
The Libyan leader has placed a high bet on the African
Union, and wants his people to share his view. In March
2001, one month after the signature of the Constitutive
Act of the Union, Gadaffi told the annual session of
the General People's Congress, Libya's legislature:
"We have the chance now with the birth of the African
Union. Our riches and our oil must be put at the service
of the African economic zone." "Africans should
also benefit from Libya's riches and you should not
be opposed to it," he said, maybe foreseeing some
nationalistic resistance from the Congress and alluding
to the deadly riots of 2000 that forced 33,000 black
Africans to flee Libya.
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Libya
