| 19 May 2007 04:14 SOMALIA WATCH |
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"...We as Arabs, Muslims and Africans care more than others about human rights because man is sacred for us and we are not waiting for others to lecture us on fields of human rights and democracy,'' ...said Ali al-Treiki, Libya's minister of African affairs. "...The disagreement mainly centered on Libya's insistence that Gadhafi speak about Africa's grievances. Other countries resisted, concerned he would use the platform to deliver a diatribe against the West....
European Leaders Meet With Africans Story Filed: Saturday, April 01, 2000 3:56 PM EST CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- European and African nations bickered Saturday during preparations for a landmark summit, indicating that old hurts and divisions may overcome hoped-for goodwill at the meeting. The inaugural Africa-European Union summit, which will be on Monday and Tuesday, is meant to raise international awareness of Africa's potential and plight, promote its integration into the global economy and develop peace and democracy in the region. The event is being viewed by some as a largely symbolic show of unity following a century of colonialism and exploitation. However, some African nations warned Saturday that they would not accept any domineering tone when Europeans raise human rights issues. We as Arabs, Muslims and Africans care more than others about human rights because man is sacred for us and we are not waiting for others to lecture us on fields of human rights and democracy,'' said Ali al-Treiki, Libya's minister of African affairs. Britain however, said it planned to do just that by raising Zimbabwe's treatment of white protesters opposed to President Robert Mugabe, which British foreign office minister Peter Hain has denounced as thuggery orchestrated from on high.'' There is clear evidence of racist, anti-white attacks, which is especially disturbing coming from a party which came to power 20 years ago on a tide of anti-racist sentiment,'' said Peter Hain, the British Foreign Office minister of state. EU External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten said the summit should keep no issues under the carpet. I hope the summit will promote realistic, frank and high-level dialogue,'' Patten said. The Africans want the summit to focus on debt relief, increasing foreign investment and better trade terms. Besides human rights, the European Union wants to talk about democracy, rule of law and clean government as conditions for cooperation with Africa. Priorities include such conversation topics as arms and drug trafficking, refugees and illegal immigration. Another cloud over the meeting was a report in Germany that a terrorism suspect planned to name Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi as having ordered a 1975 attack on an OPEC oil ministers' conference in Vienna. Three people were killed in that attack. When asked about the German newspaper report here, al-Treiki just shrugged his shoulders and refused to answer. Gadhafi is already in Egypt and is expected to use the summit to try to improve relations with the 15 European Union nations. Meanwhile, African diplomats argued over which heads of state would have the right to address the meeting. The disagreement mainly centered on Libya's insistence that Gadhafi speak about Africa's grievances. Other countries resisted, concerned he would use the platform to deliver a diatribe against the West. I'm sure everyone wants to represent the continent in a dignified way,'' said top Algerian diplomat Smail Chergui. Fifteen EU heads of state and at least 20 leaders of Africa's 53 countries are expected to attend. Somalia was not invited because it does not have a recognized government and the remaining countries will send other top leaders. Non-governmental organizations said a parallel meeting on Sunday to highlight corruption and human rights abuses in Africa had been banned by Egypt. A network of European and African human rights groups plan to issue a written plea to summit participants Tuesday demanding increased European aid to Africa as a symbolic compensation for the injustices of colonization,'' the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, a local think tank, said Saturday. It said the groups will also ask Europe to publicly apologize to the African people for the colonization. French president Jacques Chirac is expected to use the summit to raise the issue of Africa's debt burden, with some nations having to spend more on annual debt servicing than on education and health combined. How to address that remains one of the issues still open for discussion Sunday when the EU and African foreign ministers meet to iron out the final differences ahead of the summit.
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