US-NATO LOVE for LIBYA NOT for AFRO-COUNTRIES WITHOUT OIL

Two conflicts in Africa trigger different worries

English.news.cn 2011-04-03
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/index.htm

BEIJING, April 3 (Xinhua) -- In Africa, conflicts in Libya and Cote d'Ivoire have been intensifying in the past week. While both wars have sparked grave humanitarian crises there, a stew of different worries simmer.

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Observers draw parallels between the current situation in Libya and the one in Somali back in the 1990s, giving rise to international concerns that Libya could become a second Somalia in Africa -- a country which has been plagued by civil strife since the overthrow of the late Somali president Mohamed Siyad Barre in 1991.

In 1993, a U.S.-led coalition force similar to the one in Libya landed in the country. But two years of efforts to alleviate the situation there were to no avail.

Since then, the absence of an effective government has led to rampant piracy off Africa, especially in waters near Somalia.

"The tactic of the coalition is to lead to a stalemate to cut the country in two, which means that the civil war is a continuous war, the start of a new Somalia, a very dangerous situation," Libya's Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim said.

Only through political efforts and by bringing about an immediate ceasefire in the quest for a peaceful solution, thus avoiding more civilian casualties and restoring stability in Libya, could a repeat of the tragedy in Somali be prevented.

Meanwhile, in Cote d'Ivoire, west Africa, a different worry is growing as the Republican Forces backing Alassane Ouattara, presidential rival to incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo, surrounded the presidential palace in Abidjan on Thursday after conquering the political capital Yamoussoukro.

A humanitarian crisis looms in the country where hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes and nearly 500 have been killed by forces loyal to Gbagbo, who clings to power despite losing to Ouattara in the Nov. 28 presidential run-off election.

At the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) summit at the end of March, Nigerian Foreign Minister Odein Ajumogobia blamed the West for imposing a no-fly zone in Libya to protect civilians, but watching helplessly as innocent people were slaughtered in Cote d'Ivoire.

Several international meetings on Libya, instead of Cote d'Ivoire, had been held in the past week, revealing a lack of attention to the latter.

"Why Libya but not Cote d'Ivoire?" a pro-Ouattara political group leader asked bluntly.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni also accused Western countries of double standards by pushing for a no-fly zone and asked: Why Libya, but not Bahrain or Somalia?

As Museveni put it: "Why? Are there no human beings in Somalia similar to the ones in Benghazi? Or is it because Somalia does not have oil which is not fully controlled by the Western oil companies?"

Editor: Fang Yang