The rantings of Col Gaddafi

Colonel Gaddafi

When I was younger, I loved the thought of a focused individual who had his country's interest at heart. I also liked Che Guevara, a revolutionary who I saw as someone who wanted to get rid of the inequalities in his country. "Col" Gaddafi was in that line in the 1960s and 1970s. It seemed all he wanted to do, was get rid of corruption, bureaucracy, laxity in the system, etc. I admired Colonel Gaddafi for his Revolution ideology (his brand of socialism called "popular democracy") and the way he stood against the USA, UK (anti-imperialism policy), etc. When I was younger, I liked the cool shades and the beret or cap he used to sport when facing the press. 

I just like the idea of him being radical for the good of his country. Like Julius Nyerere, who tried African Socialism (Ujamaa) and ran Tanzania, I later learned that only loans and grants from the World Bank and the IMF in 1975 prevented Tanzania from going bankrupt. But now I am older, I believe that I was totally naive and did not actually understand what, in practice, such a political system that, like communism or a total socialist revolution would have to some degree, suppressed civil liberties, allowed corruption to furnish, etc. So I began to realise that in a system where there are no checks or balances, it is straightforward that it can be abused.

On the morning of Sunday, 7th of March, 2010, the villages of Dogo Nahawa, Zot and Rastat (about 15km south of Jos) were attacked for about three gruesome, bloody hours leaving in its wake total destruction brunt huts and dead bodies. 

The bodies, which are said to be up to 500 (The New York Times quoted the Nigeria Red Cross of burying 332 bodies in a mass grave in a single village) in number contained a large number of pregnant women and children, which had axes, daggers, cutlasses, injuries on them. The attack was in apparent retaliation for four days of violence around Jos, which killed several hundred people; many fatalities were in the Muslim settlement of Kuru Karama. Although the murderous conflict between the Fulani herdsmen and the villagers could be traced back to the 1950s where there were Igbo, and Fulani-Hausa settlers disagreed over mineral mining rights. Since then, thousands of people have died in the "conflict". 

Dogo-Nahawa massacre

It is alleged that the State government had received intelligence of the movement of many well-armed Muslim Youths the previous day (Saturday, 6th of March, 2010) at around 9pm. After receiving this information, State Governor Jonah John Jang informed the GOC commander of the 82nd Division based in Jos, Major-General Maina Saleh. He is said to have assured the Governor that he would immediately send his troops to the three villages. The internet was filled with reviews, photos, video clips, etc., of such acts. There was global condemnation from Africa to the Vatican.

There are about 250 ethnic groups in Nigeria. It seems the military regimes kept, to a large extent, a majority of these underlying tensions in check. Apart from Nigeria's first coup led by Ibo Officers (from came Eastern Nigeria), all of those killed came from the Northern and Western parts of the country. There was a backlash against civilians from the East in the Northern part of Nigeria, which we might say led to the Nigerian civil war.

Apart from religion, I was told there was another reason why the city of Jos, one of the major cities in the Northern part of Nigeria, does not have an Emir (by a taxi driver). It is situated on a plateau about 1200 metres above sea level. The temperature is more relaxed than in the rest of Nigeria, making it a favourite destination for both tourists and expatriates based in Nigeria. The mineral deposits have led to the influx of migrants, mostly Hausas, Igbos, Yorubas and Europeans, who now constitute more than half of the population of Jos. Apart from the fact that the population of Nigeria has been increasing due to better health care, global warming has led to the encroachment of the desert. It has led to an influx of Fulani nomads who frequently enter the farm and precipitate clashes with farming communities. The Fulani, mainly Muslims, while the villagers are mainly Christians, have added a religious tone to the whole incident. Hence, the clashes of how complex the causes can be boiled down to access to resources. In the first four years following Nigeria's return to democratic rule in 1999, more than 10,000 people were killed in communal violence. Politicians can easily exploit these differences to gain support.

Our dear Colonel, under very recently the head of AU, after looking at the situation in Nigeria, decided that "Splitting Nigeria would stop the bloodshed and burning of places of worship". He alleged to have said that they divided Nigeria along religious lines. The Colonel previously had been calling for an African "United States of Africa". The key word here is "United". He alleged that Nigeria should go along the lines of Yugoslavia, which has been divided into five countries (Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia, and Macedonia) or former colonial India, which was divided into India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. From the former and present states of these countries from which millions died and thousands are still dying, one does not know whether it was for the best. India and Pakistan have started their own Nuclear Arms Race, putting the whole planet at risk after numerous conflicts. Meanwhile the situation Yugoslavia, part of the Balkans responsible, among others, was responsible for causing World War I (WWI was thought to be responsible for WWII, then the Cold War), etc. Last year, it was alleged that the Colonel called for Switzerland to be abolished and for its land to be divided between Italy, Germany and France.

The response was immediate. A Nigerian senator described the suggestions as "rants of a mad man". Then Nigeria recalled its ambassador, Alhaji Isah Mohammed, from the Libyan Peoples Arab Socialist Jamahiriya "for consultations" following the Libyan leader's comments.

While in Kampala, Uganda, Col Muammar Gaddafi, on the 19th of March, 2008, celebrated the "anniversary of the birth of Prophet Muhammad with a two-hour speech in which he attacked the Scandinavian countries for besmirching the Prophet, the Arabs for monopolising the Kaaba and signed off by describing the Bible as a forgery". Kampala Archbishop Cyprian Lwanga told an Easter mass congregation to forget Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi's remarks. "I ask fellow Christians to forgive Gaddafi like Jesus forgave those people who crucified Him on the cross." At Kampala's Christ the King Church, Monsignor Paul Ssemwogerere said: "Since the Muslim community has already distanced itself from Colonel Gaddafi's sentiments, let's forgive him as Christians." So, my suggestion would be along those lines of "let's forgive Gaddafi and pray for him".