Russian strongman Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin said the other day that he must get what he want either by war or negotiations. This means that the war is not about to end but it can also end sooner than expected. Whether the war end today or not there are matters arising which deserve our attention
First, the war and its coverage by the media shows that what is good for the goose is not good for the gander. If it were in Afghanistan or in the DRC, the media would be showing us piles of corpses, victims of the bombing and shelling, children with running noses being pestered by flies! But in this White war TV is not showing corpses even though people are dying by the minute. The media has a double standards in reporting war- when it is a fratricidal one between Whites as this one, the coverage is sanitized. When it is in Asia or Africa, the pictures will show it warts and all!
Second, the Russia-Ukraine war has shown that Africa needs a unified foreign policy. The voting pattern at last week’s UN General Assembly by African countries is shameful. While Europe voted en bloc African countries showed their dismal division; one country voted against, 17 abstained and the rest voted for. This means that the African vote, 54 votes, or 30 per cent of UN membership had no impact, no result no meaning and was therefore inutile.
The voting pattern by African countries show that our countries are captives of the past, perplexed about the present and timid of the future!
Why on earth should supposed support given by a former power 60 years ago inform a UN vote of 2022? The Russia of Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin of 2022 is not the USSR of 60 years ago. If USSR was supportive of African liberation movements decades ago during the First Cold War which ended in 1991, then does it mean that African should still be beholden to Russia invading a neigbouring and therefore support big power impunity? The USSR support came from Ukraine, Estonia, Dagestan Azerbaijan etc,, because these countries and many more comprised the USSR The African voting pattern last week also show that many African states are timid about the future; voting hesitantly not to anger a particular power or so.
But the third matter arising from the Russia-Ukraine war is that the leftover arms and fighters could spill into Africa and cause harm to our continent. Ukraine is recruiting foreign fighters including fro Africa When the war ends these will be forced to return home and be a source of instability; Ukraine has been one of the notorious suppliers of small arms to Africa and when the war ends even ore arms will be floating around and will flood Africa to bring more instability. The AU should be vigilant!
We urge for the reactivation of the Non Aligned Movement(NAM) organization created in 1961 to give room to countries that were neither in the West or East Bloc during the First Cold War. As we enter the Second Cold War, the NAM is now needed to bring sanity to the international order as a Third force.
