ORGANISERS printed Muammar Gaddafi’s portrait and mounted it on one of the flags decorating the road to the African Union (AU) summit venue back when he was expected to rule for life.

Now his proud face flaps incongruously in the wind here, the only sign of a man who has long dominated this gathering of African leaders but who is now mired in Libya’s civil war.

It is a jolting image that reminds delegates of how much has changed on the continent in the past six months, and also underlines the organisation’s ambivalence toward one of its most prominent members.

The summit is scheduled to open today without the Libyan leader. It is fitting, however, that in order to reach the conference hall, delegates will need to pass under his defiant gaze.

Even though Gaddafi is not in attendance, the problem he poses looms large for the body representing Africa’s 53 nations.

“There is a very strong number of countries in the African Union who believe that Gaddafi’s time is up and that he should go, and there are some who – to a greater or lesser extent – do not share that view,” Britain’s International Development Secretary, Andrew Mitchell, told reporters in London before heading to the talks.

Diplomats from all over the world are descending on Malabo, the capital of this minuscule nation located on an island off the western edge of Africa, in an effort to persuade Gaddafi’s peers to force him from power.

-Guardian

Posted by admin on Jun 29 2011. Filed under Africa & World Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry