African nations urged to sever ties with Libya

African nations urged to sever ties with Libya
Judith Ukoh, Lagos

Nigerian political analysts have joined the US State Secretary, Hilary Clinton, in the call for African Nations to sever ties with Libya’s Muammar Gadaffi.

An analyst, Adebayo Adebukola, said that in as much as the African Union is promoting unity and trying to increase the powers of the African Union commission and heads of states, the issue of sovereignty still holds and the sovereignty of the Libyan state cannot just be taken away.

Adebukopla said that African Nations severing ties with Libya depends on the relationship of Muammar Gaddafi to each African leader. He said that if the African leaders cut ties with Libya, it was bound to affect the country’s economy and may compel Gadaffi to step down.

He said that though Libya was a strong force among the African Nations, a nation cannot be an island to itself.

Rebels recognised

Germany has become the latest country to recognize Libya’s rebel Transitional National Council as the legitimate representatives of the Libyan people. Speaking in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, called for a free Libya without Muammar Gaddafi.

Also speaking on Germany’s recognition of the rebels, Adebukola said that the Libyan rebels already had a lot of support from some European countries and Germany was an added weight to the battle for Libya in favour of the Libyan Rebel Council. He said it was an open declaration that Gaddafi’s government would soon be toppled.

Crimes against humanity

Commenting on a recent United Nations rights council report that accused both forces loyal to Gaddafi and the rebels of war crimes and crimes against humanity, Adebukola, said that war crimes were an occurrence peculiar to war conflicts.

He said the situation was not peculiar to Libya alone but with every country that had experienced war, and as such, no side could be said to be innocent of war crime allegations.

Meanwhile, NATO allies have continued their air strikes against Gaddafi’s forces, while Gaddafi said his troops had turned back a rebel attempt to take the town of Zawiya, just 30 kilometres from the state capital, Tripoli.

Williams