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Uganda: Mr Gaddafi And His Money
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Focus Media (Kigali)
OPINION
26 March 2008
Posted to the web 26 March 2008
The Libyan leader, Col. Muammar Gaddafi is known to be a very difficult host worldwide. Anyone who saw him in Durban, South Africa, for the birth of the new African Union in 2002 for instance is not likely to forget the event soon.
The Libyan leader, Col. Muammar Gaddafi is known to be a very difficult host worldwide.
To ensure the full security of the leader of "the great Arab Jamahiriya" a Boeing 737 full of his personal body guards flew into Durban. Chaos ensued. The fully armed Libyans looked like a small army of invasion as opposed to the security retinue of a visiting head of state.
The South Africans were not about to let them into the streets of Durban like that and proceeded to disarm them. A mighty scuffle ensued but the South Africans prevailed and only "a reasonable amount" of Libyan arms was let in.
Much more recently, and much nearer home, Gaddafi was a few days ago in Uganda to inaugurate a mosque that he has funded. A number of heads of state, including President Kagame were invited to the event. Other than inauguration of the mosque there were business deals to be negotiated and signed.
But the Libyan strongman was not about to come to a poorer African country without flexing some muscles. His security people were as usual a terrible nuisance. They tried to disarm everyone and take over the security of not only the other visiting heads of state, but of the host president, Yoweri Museveni.
Ugandan newspapers the following day were full of stories and opinion pieces about physical battles between the presidential guards of Mr Gaddafi and Mr Museveni and that at one point Mr Museveni was pinned against the wall as he tried to make his entrance at the mosque.
The chaos was such that the security men of both presidents were so busy scuffling and shoving each other that they had no time for control of civilians who were overflowing to catch a glimpse of the heads of state.
A source told Focus that even the security men of Mr Kagame were at one point involved in scuffles, shoving civilians out of the way for the President to enter the mosque.
So, you may ask, why do people put up with this Gaddafi nonsense all the time?
Of course it is the money. Gaddafi leads an oil rich country and he is known to be very generous with his country's cash. Plus, Libyan companies are fanning out all over Africa doing business and making mega investments.
Rwanda for example has signed a deal on very generous terms by which a pipeline from Mombassa to Kampala is to be extended to Kigali. The pipeline is mainly financed by a Libyan company.
It is very wise indeed to do business with the Libyans, obnoxious as their leader might be.
But where does an African leader, for instance, draw the line, we have to ask. When does such a leader determine when the need for money collides with his or her dignity and therefore when to draw the line and decide this is it, we aren't taking any more from that man?
Focus does not speak for any religion, but when an Arab leader enters a country and proceeds to utter that the Bible is a forgery and full of doctored verses especially in the presence of other leaders who are not Muslims, one really has to scratch their heads and ask whether indeed the situation hasn't reached that boundary where people have to begin telling Gaddafi to take his money elsewhere.
Think for a moment. The world is full of Muslim terror. In Denmark, for instance, people live in fear of suicide bombs and the likes because some journalist drew cartoons of the prophet of Islam, Muhammad, with a bomb in his turban leading some outraged Muslims to begin hunting the journalists in question.
Everywhere, to be perceived to have insulted Islam is to invite a fatwa upon yourself whereby it is legalized for any Muslim to kill you.
But here is this man Gaddafi freely walking into a country and insulting other people's religions and walking away, confident that he will be received warmly again, together with his nuisance of a security retinue.
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What a world we live in.
....Of course it is the money. Gaddafi leads an oil rich country and he is known to be very generous with his country's cash. Plus, Libyan companies are fanning out all over Africa doing business and making mega investments...
You cannot possibly be serious. You couldn't be more wrong. How can this cash that is "paid" with insults, abuse, and disrespect, and indignity possibly be called generous. That is NOT generous by any measure or standard. Far from it this money like most money is given with strings attached. Wake up; does the phrase - there is no free lunch... [Read Full Text]
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