Worthwhile African Initiative

David Weigel | January 29, 2007

International organizations do so very many stupid things that it's worth recognizing them when they sidestep the occasional disaster. Like this:

Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir has again been bypassed in his bid to become chairman of the African Union because of the conflict in Darfur. Mr Bashir had been due to take on the role but it has instead been given to Ghana's President John Kufuor.

George Clooney's shuttle diplomacy pays off! Sudan had been promised the presidency years ago; this is as big a sign of its waning respect in Africa as Venezuela's failed UN Security Council bid was a sign of international skepticism about Chavez. The build-up to the decision inspired this odd comment by The New Republic owner Martin Peretz.

The only hope is that the countries of black Africa will finally rebel against the minority of Muslim and Arab states in the north of the continent (there are 53 member-states in the A.U.) and rescue Africa from warring Islam. But this would take a decision from South Africa, and no one is certain that there is that will in Pretoria.

Reports don't say which countries were most important in denying Sudan the job, but they do point this out.

Chad had threatened to leave the AU if Mr Bashir became its leader, while Amnesty International warned that the body's credibility would be damaged.

Chad is, of course, 51 percent Muslim. This is the kind of talk a pundit should avoid if he's running from a blogolanche of bigotry charges.

Comments

|1.29.07 @ 9:42AM|#

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Brett|1.29.07 @ 9:43AM|#

Color me clueless, but can somebody explain the reasoning that rescuing Africa from warring Islam requires a decision from South Africa?

|1.29.07 @ 10:04AM|#

Yes, but are the Playboy girls Muslims from Africa? Or what?

|1.29.07 @ 10:15AM|#

Martin Peretz is a loon. He thinks Lawrence Summers was ousted as President of Harvard because of "anti-Jewish animus" among the Harvard faculty.

|1.29.07 @ 10:21AM|#

This Canadian is offended by the headline.

|1.29.07 @ 10:22AM|#

If you click through the whole Spencer Ackerman-Matt Yglesias-Jonathan Chait pissing match, you'll see that Chait wins a fairly hany victory against his two opponents. It's a silly argument and ultimatley inconsequential but this blogolanche is not the kind that unseats a Dan Rather or a Trent Lott or even the type that shows a Dan Riehl for the moron he is.

|1.29.07 @ 11:37AM|#

Bartman
Are you offended by the Africa headline? Or the playboy girls headline?

Both seemed reasonable to me.

|1.29.07 @ 11:46AM|#

"This Canadian is offended by the headline."

Eh?

|1.29.07 @ 12:21PM|#

Brett -

I suspect that the post refers to the fact that starting January 1 2007, South Africa began a 2 year stint as elected member of the UN Security Council. Read this week's Economist for a discussion of the impact SA's first Security Council decision has on their internal politics -- their "maintain status quo" on Myanmar human rights (reading between the lines, this was due to the importance of China to SA economy and the desire for status quo in Myanmar from China) is apparently in opposition to statements Nelson Mandela made (and possibly committments in SA's constitution or other laws) with respect to SA future stances on human rights at the time SA was reorganized after apartheid.

Aside -- Man, I love the Economist.

Alternately, I also imagine that SA, with a reasonable developing-world economy compared to other African countries, probably has more "power of the purse" in African Union budgeting and peacekeeping decisions than most members of that body.

Brett|1.29.07 @ 1:09PM|#

keith, thanks. Agree that SA is relatively powerful in the AU and that being on the Security Council (which I forgot) helps, it just struck me as a much stronger statement than that.

|1.29.07 @ 1:14PM|#

Do I really have to explain?

Larry A|1.29.07 @ 1:36PM|#

The only hope is that the countries of black Africa will finally rebel against the minority of Muslim and Arab states in the north of the continent (there are 53 member-states in the A.U.) and rescue Africa from warring Islam.

Given the infinite number of warring factions in Africa, I somehow doubt peace will break out if the conflict is reduced to infinity minus the Muslims.

VM|1.29.07 @ 2:08PM|#

Larry A:

but just think of the "Clooney Plan" and how that would work in conjunction with the Infinity Minus the Muslims: the cloud of smug would obscure the battlefield, thereby rendering the weapons useless.

Then we could send the useless weapons to Tanzania where they'll get burned, contributing to global warming, and thereby upsetting the other liberals causing them to visit, increasing the smug cloud...

(as you can see, "Muslims" as well as communism are mere "red herrings", to quote Wadsworth the Butler)

etc. etc. etc.

|1.29.07 @ 3:30PM|#

Bartman: you don't think Africa is worthwhile?