Libya’s Revolution: For Muammar Gaddafi its time for deeds to roost.

The fall of a Pariah

The ongoing people’s revolution in Libya trying to outset 42 years of Muammar Gaddafi’s rule is a case of his past deeds to other nations not only in Africa and Arab world, but worldwide coming back to haunt him.

I watched his about 75 minutes speech on the debris of his bombed house by USA which killed his daughter and what came to me was a leader still grappling with stale revolutionary dogma which brought him to power in 1969 at 27 years old.

Interestingly, the Khartoum government reacted to the Libyan crisis by cautioning rebels not to get involved. The uprising is sure to split over to Sudan with a delicate separation underway since Gaddafi has been deeply involved in the rebellion.

Former Sudan president Gaafar Numeiri, after a failed assassination attempt in 1976 by Gaddafi called him ‘a split personality- both evil’

Driven by grand otiose ambitions and with a dour pathological penchant of meddling with affairs of other countries he used the vast Libya’s oil revenue for this endeavors at the expense of citizens.

His hollow attempt at pan-Arab made him sign ‘Tripoli Charter’ to link Egypt and Sudan; 1971 Benghazi Treaty linking Libya, Egypt and Syria; 1973 Hassi Messaoud Accord linking Libya and Algeria and Djerba treaty linking Libya and Tunisia.

Interestingly these countries have been swept by the current revolution or in are just ripe.

All these treaties fell humiliating the pariah when he was left out by Egypt in 1973 Arab-Israeli war, though he was itching to get involved.

When the diplomatic font failed he invested heavily on arms and artillery to support dissenters against other countries in proxy violence, assassination and outright bribery.

Charles Taylor’s National Patriotic Front of Liberia which destabilized West Africa was trained by Gaddafi against USA backed President Samuel Doe, the same with Eritrean guerillas against Haile Sellassie Ethiopia, in Niger and Mali.

Outside Africa he supported Palestinian functions, Irish Republican Army, Busque separatists, Islamic insurgency in Philippines and Thailand.

Closer home in Uganda his attempt at propping Amin 1979 defeat ended in humiliation. Amin was among 30 African countries paid by Gaddafi to cut diplomatic ties with Israel.

With all these record hanging somewhere in his desert tent, Gaddafi started the mantra of United States of Africa using traditional African chiefs as his puppets. His union never augurs well with his Islam chauvinism in Uganda while opening a mosque and calls for Nigeria to separate to Christian south and Muslim North.

It’s every time he talked of African unity that I think of his occupation of Aozou and Tibetsi region in Chad to form what he called Islamic Republic of Sahel. It took the intervention of France and USA to regain the region in 1986 and a 1994 International Court of Justice ruling which rescinded his claim.

With such a history and deeds, Muammar Gaddafi’s argument of western imperialism, foreign saboteur against his ‘revolution’ and quest for Libya’s oil will never hold water.

What he should know is that the skeletons from his closet are grabbing him and I hope Libyans will end his 42 year reign.
Published on the March 7th 2011 Issue of  The EastAfrican