Author: The Nation

The number of people displaced inside Sudan on Wednesday by fighting between rival military factions rose to more than one million.

According to the UN’s International Organisation for Migration (IOM), another 319,000 people have fled to neighbouring countries, Egypt, Sudan’s northern neighbour, took in the largest share of the refugees, with more than 132,000 people. Chad accepted 80,000 refugees and South Sudan about 69,000.

A long-simmering power struggle in Sudan escalated violently on April 15. The army under the command of de-facto president Abdel Fattah al-Burhan is fighting the paramilitary units of his deputy, Mohammed Hamdan Daglo.

The two generals jointly seized power in 2021.

Read Also : Sudan crisis as cautionary tale to Nigeria

Even before the current crisis, Sudan was one of the poorest and politically unstable countries in the world with 3.7 million internally displaced people due to previous crises.

Now, the IOM warns of a further deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the country with a total population of around 46 million.

The fighting is making access to basic goods and fuel increasingly difficult.

Volker Turk, UN rights chief, said the recent fighting in Sudan has killed hundreds of civilians and forced more than one million people to flee the violence.

Turk, who met with both generals in Sudan in November 2022, said his office had received reports of fighter jets and clashes in the capital, Khartoum overnight despite a ceasefire.

He told a Geneva news briefing where he addressed crises from around the world that “many civilians are virtually besieged in areas where fighting has been relentless.

“General al-Burhan, General Dagalo, you must issue clear instructions, in no uncertain terms to all those under your command, that there is zero tolerance for sexual violence.

“Civilians must be spared and you must stop this senseless violence now,” he said.

Members of the African Union (AU) will today commemorate the formation of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) now AU.

Since the founding of OAU, the anniversary begs the question: How much of the vision of the OAU’s founding fathers has been realised 60 years on?

The birth of pan-African dream

Dr. Sizo Nkala Nkala, a Research Fellow at the University of Johannesburg’s Centre for Africa-China Studies, described the birth of OAU as symbolising the beginning of the post-colonial era which engendered promises of African renaissance or rebirth.

Nkala said the founding document of the new continental body, the OAU Charter, committed it to ending colonialism, forging African unity, and promoting peace, security, and socio-economic development on the continent.

 “At the core of the continental initiative was a pan-African dream underpinned by the belief that people of African descent were connected by brotherhood and sisterhood and shared a common history and a common destiny.

“It was hoped that pan-Africanist ideals would lead to the unification of the continent and enhance its socio-economic potential,” Nkala said.

The challenges

However, precious little has been achieved in terms of turning the pan-African dream into reality in the last 60 years.

The post-colonial era has brought more suffering and misery than relief and freedom for millions of Africans who live under the violent lordship of despots. Africa has been in a permanent state of crisis since the end of colonialism.

One dimension of the crisis is political. The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index for 2022, which measures electoral process and pluralism, functioning of government, political culture, civil liberties, and political participation, showed that Africa is trailing the world when it comes to democracy.

While the global average for the Democracy Index was 5.29, Africa registered an average of a mere 4.14. Only Mauritius out of Africa’s 55 countries is recognised as a full democracy while 23 countries are classified as authoritarian.

These are countries where elections are rigged, dissent is violently suppressed while constitutions are tweaked to extend the incumbents’ stay in power.

Vicious security forces are readily unleashed on protesters raising legitimate grievances.

As such, the vast majority of African people still live under oppressive conditions 60 years after the demise of colonialism. The lack of democracy has led to a corresponding rise in violent conflicts and military coups as people jostle for power.

Success of OAU/AU

The Conversation stated that one success of the African Union is its growing prestige. After its founding in 2002, Wikipedia did not consider it merited an entry until 2011. But today 50 non-African states accredit ambassadors to the Aafrican Union. The diaspora demanded inclusion during South African President Thabo Mbeki’s leadership and is now formally recognised as the “sixth region” of the African Union since 2003. Caribbean nations, members of CARRICOM, recently started formal links with the African Union: these are African-descendant nations, abducted out of Africa during centuries of slave trade.

The African Union architecture for peacekeeping and peacemaking has no peer in the Organisation of American States, Arab League, or ASEAN. While most African Union organs meet only twice per year, the Peace and Security Council has met twice per month since its founding in 2004. Dozens of its ad hoc military missions help governments with the suppression of terrorism everywhere from the Sahel to northern Mozambique. Various African Union and regional economic community peacekeepers have served in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s numerous civil wars for decades.

Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Lucky Irabor said it cost Nigeria a princely sum of $8 billion to restore peace in Liberia.

The Liberian war  December 24, 1989 to August 2, 1997 lasted for 7 years, seven months, one week and two days.

Gen. Irabor spoke yesterday  at the event to marking the 75th-year celebration of the United Nations peacekeeping operations.

He also said over 200,000 Nigerians troops have served in UN peacekeeping missions worldwide.

Irabor said: “Since the first engagement of troops of our Armed Forces in the Congo in 1960, Nigeria has been unequivocally committed to the principles and objectives of the United Nations. It has significantly contributed to 41 peacekeeping operations worldwide.

“Ever since, over 200,000 Nigerian troops have served in UN peacekeeping missions worldwide and Nigerian senior military officers have commanded some of these missions.

“Similarly, under regional and sub-regional cooperation, Nigeria has been involved in peacekeeping operations in field missions in Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Gambia, Liberia, Mali, Darfur and Sierra Leone and has contributed a lot in terms of finance, logistics, troops and civilian experts, making her one of the most significant African troops and civilian police contributors to UN missions.

“It is noteworthy that in addition to the loss of lives and injuries to personnel, the ECOMOG, a regional interventionist mediation force advocated to end the protracted Liberian civil war, was operated at an estimated cost of USD 8 billion to the Nigerian government.”

United Nations Secretary General António Guterres, in his message, said no fewer than 4,200 peacemakers have lost their lives while securing peace across the globe.

Also, Gen. Martin Agwai (rtd), who was the special guest of honour, pointed out that the UN Peacekeeping had been a unique and dynamic instrument to help countries in conflict transition to lasting peace.