AFRICAN Union (AU) Chairman and Libyan revolutionary leader, Mouammar Gaddafi, has called for a funding programme for Africa comparable to the United States (U.S.) Marshall Plan for rebuilding Western Europe after World War II.
Gaddafi, according to the Pan-African News Agency (PANA), also stressed the need for those willing to help Africa to do so
without imposing conditions, like forcing African nations to imbibe the Western political model.
"Africa, through its social structures, adapts to a natural social system, which Western countries, after decades of colonisation and
slavery, find difficult to understand," he said, adding that democracy is all about the people being in power. He cited the Libyan example of "direct people's democracy" where, he said, each man and woman exercises power.
Gaddafi said the rising cases of illegal immigration of Africans to the rich countries is a consequence of the plundering of African resources by such countries during the slave trade and the colonisation period.
In a wide-ranging speech to the Group of Eight (G-8) industrialised nations during the recently concluded summit in L'Aquila, Italy, Gaddafi accused Switzerland of being the source of funding for terrorism, as the sponsors have secret accounts in Swiss banks.
He said Africa needed massive foreign investments to enable it to exploit its huge natural resources, adding that the good intentions and pledges of aid made by the previous G-8 meetings have yet to yield results.
"We have projects that need investments and which are likely to meet the continent's needs, such as the Inga dam in Congo, Lake Chad and the Nile Delta," the Libyan leader said during a session of the summit devoted to Africa.
The Libyan leader urged the G-8 leaders to invite poor countries like Malawi, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Chad, Niger, Burundi and Djibouti to the next G-8 summit, instead of making it an exclusive club of rich nations as well as producers of oil and gas.
Gaddafi also briefed the G-8 leaders on the decisions of the recent AU summit in Sirte, Libya, especially the transformation of the AU Commission into an Authority of the Union.
Under the AU Authority, he said, there will be a coordinator of African foreign policy so that, from now on, Africa would speak with one voice.
He also talked of the defence council which, within the context of the Authority, would be chaired by a defence coordinator who will liaise with other military commands around the world, as well as a
co-ordinator for external trade, who will negotiate on behalf of the continent at such fora as World Trade Organisation and other
international institutions.
The AU chairman also reiterated Africa's right to have a permanent seat at the United Nations Security Council, with all the privileges attached to it, so as to preserve international balance and world peace.
He urged the permanent members of the Security Council present at the G-8 meeting not to oppose the proposal when it comes up at the UN General Assembly.
The Libyan revolutionary leader was one of the key leaders who were invited to the 8 to 10 July 35th summit by the Italian Presidency to join the G-8+5 leaders - Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, UK, U.S. (G-8 members) - as well as the five largest emerging economies - Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa.
On illegal immigration, he said the best way to check the phenomenon and keep Africans on their continent is for the rich nations to pay restitution for the resources that were plundered by them.
In addition, he said the countries of the North should take a bold decision to compensate African countries for the nuclear tests that were carried out on the continent, as well as for the mass displacement of the African peoples.
He cited as an example the historic agreement signed between Libya and Italy, under which the European nation apologised to the people of Libya for colonising them and agreed to compensate them.
The AU Chairman also hailed as a ''grandiose'' act the fact that
French President Nicolas Sarkozy was seriously considering compensating Algeria, starting with those who were affected by the nuclear tests carried out on the Algerian soil.
On the issue of terrorism, the Libyan revolutionary leader described Switzerland as ''an international mafia'' serving as a source of funding for the phenomenon.
He said for any fight against terrorism to be successful, the source of funding must be cut off ''with the dismantling of the Swiss entity'', while the humiliation and international hegemony to which the practitioners of a certain religion are subjected must end.
On the controversy over the Iran nuclear programme, the Libyan leader restated his belief in the right of all countries to use such
programme for peaceful purposes, and called on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to monitor all countries that possess nuclear weapons.
The AU chairman also touched on acts of piracy in the Horn of Africa, which he said was a reaction to the ''plundering of maritime resources in the waters of the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ)".
He disclosed that he is currently focusing on the drafting of an agreement between Somalis and the rest of the world, with
emphasis on the need to respect Somalia's EEZ, in exchange for an end to piracy in the area.
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