Why Gadaffi boycotted The AU Summit Opening
Samuel Dowuona, ACCRA, Ghanadot

After making so much noise about ensuring “African Government Now” and also making a show of his travel through the borders of several African Union (AU) member states by road - from Libya to Accra, Libyan Leader Muamar Gadaffi was conspicuously absent when the 9th AU Summit opened in Accra.
Summit organizers are mostly-tight lipped on the reasons for Gadaffi’s absence at the opening ceremony but highly placed diplomatic sources close to the summit security coordination told Ghanadot that Gadaffi actually boycotted the opening because his personal demands were not met.

According to the source, Gadaffi made three basic demands; that special security arrangements should be made for him to enable him bring his over a 100-member security detail into the conference premises and some into the main conference hall.

He also demanded to be allowed to make a statement at the opening ceremony and again he made a choice of where he wanted to sit instead of the spot he was allotted by the summit organizers.

With regards to his demands for a special security regime, the source said Gadaffi actually sent almost a 100 of his security guards to the conference premises on the morning of the opening ceremony but they were turned away because there was no space to accommodate such high numbers for just one head of state.

Moreover summit organizers had put in place adequate security arrangements for all the dignitaries expected at the summit, for which reason extra security details for individual heads of states, including the host, President John Agyekum Kufuor, were all limited as far as where they could go was concerned.

“The conference hall is a 1,500 seater-capacity was not big enough to accommodate all the members of the security details of every head of state so we allowed only one bodyguard for each head of state and an extra one outside the hall. All other persons in any head of state’s entourage were kept at bay from the hall,” the source said.

Additionally Gadaffi’s large convoy of vehicles could not have space at the conference premises as other heads of states and their entourages were allotted a maximum of seven cars each.

Gadaffi’s demand to make a statement at the opening ceremony was also turned down because traditionally at the opening of every AU summit, only the Chairman of the AU (now President J. A. Kufuor), the Chairman of the AU Commission (now Prof. Alpha Oumar Konare) and a representative of the United Nations were allowed to make opening statements.

Regarding Gadaffi’s choice of a place to sit, the source said he sought to be given a place behind all the other states, apparently to attract media attention to himself but that was not part of the original sitting arrangements in the conference hall. Moreover he had been duly allotted a place to sit but he did not want to sit there.

As to be expected, Gadaffi did not take kindly to the arrangements made by the conference host and organizers, to wit, he was to submit to their dictates instead of being giving the chance to satisfy his ego. He might have probably thought to himself; “who are these black Africans to dictate to me.”

Analysts said Ghaddafi shot himself in the foot with all the noise he made in the run up to the summit and with his seemingly triumphant entry into Accra ahead of the triumph. Now it seems he had to redeem his image to the millions of people he addressed and promised to move the union government forward.

“He was fully aware that he was not on programme to make any statements at the opening ceremony – he knew quite well that the agenda for the summit was the grand debate on union government and not his radical demand for African government now and yet he went about making promises beyond him,” the source said.

Some analyst have also said that Gadaffi could simply not run away from his dictatorial sentiments in that he thought he could just come into the summit and just in a day, make three demands and have his way. He knows no other way than to be a dictator because in his own country he is the law.

“He probably thinks he is the hope of the African people and for that he could just disrupt all protocol arrangements at such an important summit to satisfy his personal aggrandizement in the name of seeking the common good of the African people,” analysts said.

The international community is watching how Africa would behave at this all important summit, especially they are looking to see what would be the direction of the grand debate for union government and what would be the main driving force behind the direction of the debate. This is in view of the challenging issues of Darfur and Somalia which stares directly in the face of the leaders.

To think that Ghaddafi would seek to create the impression that African leaders gathered in Accra to discuss his proposal for “African Government Now” instead of the well laid down points of institutional arrangements, modalities and timelines for the attainment of the union government was infantile on his part, one analyst said.

Gadaffi’s decision to boycott the opening of the summit is considered rather suspicious. It gives credence to the Nigeria conspiracy theory that the Arab MAGRHEB was conspiring to colonize black Africa under the guise of “union government now.”

The BBC on July 2, 2007 reported that ahead of the summit, Ghaddafi had mounted several bill boards and Tripoli and other cities across Libya, on which he was portrayed as the King of Africa. If that was anything to go by then his intentions for pushing for a “Union Government now” are obvious.

One would have thought that Gaddafi would remain egoistic and not participate in the grand debate, but he ate humble pie and showed up on the second day of the debate and made his case quite clearly that in calling for African Government immediately, he was only pursuing the dream of the first President of Ghana, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah for the unity of Africa.

Obviously he was not going to create the impression that he spent all the hundreds of thousands of dollars to travel 1000s of miles from Libya to Accra by road with 109 luxury vehicles, 500 people just to sleep in the comfort of the part Libyan owned Golden Tulip Hotel in Accra for a couple of days and travel back that long distance.

Gadaffi no doubt is rich and he could just have done the unbelievable; i.e. take this trip as just a holiday, but analysts believe he is wiser than that. At least he must have something to tell his fans on his way back to the comfort of Tripoli.

Samuel Dowouna, Accra, July 3, 2007, Ghanadot.com