Gaddafi proposes ‘Nato of the South’ at South America-Africa summit

London Times | Sep 28, 2009

Colonel Gaddafi proposed an African-Latin American defence alliance yesterday at an intercontinental summit hosted by Venezuela.

At the South America-Africa summit on Isla Margarita in Venezuela, the Libyan leader joined the host, President Chávez, in calling for an “anti-imperialist” front across Africa and Latin America.

President Mugabe of Zimbabwe and President Zuma of South Africa were among almost 30 leaders from across the two continents present as Mr Chávez sought to promote his socialist policies abroad, urging a new world order that would confront Western dominance.

“The world’s powers want to continue to hold on to their power,” said Mr Gaddafi, who had a white limousine flown to Venezuela to meet him at the airport. He then met Mr Chávez in his trademark Beduin tent by a hotel pool. “Now we have to fight to build our own power,” he said.

The leaders were to agree a range of joint projects in areas including energy, mining and agriculture, with Mr Gaddafi, in particular, expected to sign several accords with Mr Chávez.

Venezuela also stoked the controversy over the Iranian nuclear programme with the revelation that it was working with Tehran to exploit its uranium deposits.

Rodolfo Sanz, the Mining Minister, said that Iran was helping Venezuela to detect resources, raising international suspicions at a time when voices in Israel and the United States are accusing Caracas of helping its ally to evade sanctions on its nuclear programme.

Chavez seeks Africa’s help for New World Order

Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez (L) visits Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi at his tent at the venue of the Africa-South America Summit in Margarita Island September 25, 2009. REUTERS/Miraflores Palace/Handout

Chavez has governed for just over 10 years and makes no bones about his aim to stay in office for decades more while he works to turn Venezuela into a socialist state.

Reuters | Sep 26, 2009

By Frank Jack Daniel and Fabian Cambero

PORLAMAR, Venezuela (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez hosted some of Africa’s longest-serving leaders at a sleek Caribbean resort on Saturday for a summit he says will help end U.S. and European economic dominance.

High-profile guests included Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi, who is celebrating four decades in office and had a white limousine flown to Venezuela to meet him at the airport, and 85-year-old Robert Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since leading it from British colonialism nearly 30 years back.

Chavez has governed for just over 10 years and makes no bones about his aim to stay in office for decades more while he works to turn Venezuela into a socialist state.

He said the two-day meeting of African and South American leaders, which also includes many recently elected presidents, would help the mainly poor nations build stronger trade ties and rely less on Europe and the United States.

Chavez said Europe and the United States were empires that have imposed poverty on much of the world.

“We are going to create two great poles of power,” Chavez told reporters at the luxury Hilton resort on Venezuela’s Margarita island late on Friday. We are “seeking a world with no more imperialism where we will be free, uniting to escape poverty.”

The presidents of Brazil and South Africa also attended the summit. Their model of business-friendly economics mixed with a focus on the poor is more popular among many African countries than Chavez’s radical message.

Some analysts say the developing economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China, known as BRIC nations, could eclipse the economies of the world’s richest countries by 2050.

The leaders at the summit were likely to agree on supporting stronger links between the two continents and calling for reform of global institutions like the United Nations and World Bank to give poor countries more clout.

Gaddafi, whose entourage arrived in two matching Airbus passenger jets and pitched a large Bedouin tent beside the Hilton’s pool, on Wednesday told the United Nations that big powers had betrayed the U.N. charter with their vetoes and sanctions.

King Mswati III of Swaziland, who was crowned in 1987, was also due to appear on Margarita, along with the leaders of Equatorial Guinea, Angola and Algeria, among others.

In total, 28 African and South American leaders were expected to be present by Saturday afternoon.

Chavez seems to be going all out to provoke his foes.

On Friday, Venezuela said Iran helped identify its uranium reserves, just hours after the West accused Tehran of building a secret nuclear fuel plant.

Chavez says he opposes nuclear weapons, but that the developed world does not have the right to stop other countries from developing nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

A major oil exporter, Venezuela is seeking to widen Chavez’s ALBA alliance of mainly Latin American leftist governments to include African states.

Chavez promised this month to build a refinery in Mauritania and sell crude to Mali and Niger in West Africa, a region that is emerging as a major new oil frontier considered of strategic importance to oil companies.

(Additional reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Will Dunham)

Chavez promotes closer Africa-South America ties

Muammar Gaddafi (R) shakes hands with Hugo Chavez during the summit on regional conflicts in Tripoli August 31, 2009. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

AP | Sep 25, 2009

By IAN JAMES

PORLAMAR, Venezuela — Some 30 African and South American leaders are seeking to build on their alliances at a summit that gives Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez a chance to extend his influence across the Atlantic.

Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi, on his first visit to the Americas, set up camp in a trademark Bedouin tent and met with Chavez inside it Friday night. Other leaders also held talks in private ahead of the summit’s start on Saturday.

The two-day meeting on Venezuela’s Margarita Island is aimed at addressing a wide range of common concerns, from poverty solutions to calls for reform at the United Nations.

Chavez has called it “a summit of great importance for the struggles of the South.”

Presidents are discussing plans for cooperation in energy, trade, finance, agriculture, mining, education and other areas.

“Africa and South America — We’re going to form two of the large poles of power in that … multipolar world that has begun to be born,” Chavez said as he arrived for the summit Friday night. He said that by uniting, the two regions can confront a legacy of poverty left “by the empires of the North — by the empires of Europe, by the U.S. empire.”

The meeting gives Chavez an opportunity to attempt a greater leadership role outside Latin America while critiquing U.S. influence and promoting socialist-inspired policies.

“South-South” cooperation has been a buzzword at the summit, which brings together two regional blocs: the African Union and South America’s fledgling Unasur group.

African leaders including Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe and Algeria’s Abdelaziz Bouteflika gathered at a beachside hotel amid crowds of bodyguards and aides. South American presidents from Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to Bolivia’s Evo Morales were also attending.

Chavez called Gadhafi and Bouteflika the historic “liberators” of their countries and said socialism — both in Africa and in Latin America — will be “the path to the world’s salvation.”

A first, smaller gathering of African and Latin American leaders was held in Nigeria in 2006. The timing this year — immediately after the U.N. General Assembly in New York and G-20 economic summit in Pittsburgh — suggests it may turn out to be a forum for many non-G-20 nations to respond and focus on their concerns about the way the global financial crisis is being handled.

Deals to work together in tapping energy and mineral resources are also expected.

Chavez has already announced that Venezuela may help build an oil refinery in Mauritania that could process 30,000 to 40,000 barrels per day and supply fuel to Mali, Niger and Gambia.

It is unclear how much the South American oil exporter is prepared to invest in energy projects in Africa since it is coping with a sharp drop in its revenues due to lower crude prices.

Chavez announces South American Union meeting with African Union

Chávez arrives in Libya as part of a tour of five countries

eluniversal.com | Aug 30, 2009

Chávez announces Unasur-African Union meeting in Venezuela

Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez, who is visiting Libya, on Monday agreed to hold a meeting in Margarita Island between the members of the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) and the African Union on September 26.

“We reiterate the invitation to each and every one of the presidents of the African Union to make an effort and visit Venezuela on September 26 and 27. We have chosen the Margarita Island to host the meeting and we are inviting the Dominican Republic President Leonel Fernández to accompany us as special guest. We will also invite (the presidents of) other Caribbean countries, said President Chávez.

“This meeting is very important. We are making a big effort, together with the President of the African Union, the leader Muammar Gaddafi; the secretary of the organization; the chairman of the committee. We have been preparing the agenda (…) along with Brazil,” Chávez added.

Developing states seek ‘new world order’ at NAM

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon with Libya’s Moamar Qaddafi

AFP | Jul 15, 2009

By Jailan Zayan

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (AFP) — Leaders of the developing world were in Egypt for the summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) to discuss the effect of the global financial crisis on their countries.

But the organisation’s 15th summit, attended by 55 heads of state, is likely to be overshadowed by talks on the sidelines between nuclear rivals India and Pakistan, both NAM members.

Cuban President Raul Castro will address the opening session of the two-day gathering at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh where Egypt will take over the chairmanship of the 118-member movement from Cuba.

A banner for the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh

The summit will “provide for a chance for discussions over the international economic crisis, which first started in the industrialised countries, and greatly impacted the developing countries, especially Africa,” Zimbabwe Foreign Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi was quoted by the official MENA news agency as saying.

He said industrialised states “should not be given free rein to manage such a crisis.”

On Monday, during preparatory talks, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said the summit aimed for “a new international order… in which nations (are not judged) by their size or military and economic capabilities.”

Delegates at Monday and Tuesday’s preparatory ministerial meetings indicated to AFP that the new US administration’s departure from a policy of unilateral diplomacy could help to achieve that goal.

Prime Ministers Yousuf Raza Gilani of Pakistan and Manmohan Singh of India are to meet on the sidelines amid hopes of a resumption of peace talks between the arch-foes, who have fought three wars.

Their meeting would be the second high-level talks since relations soured after last year’s attacks in the Indian commercial capital Mumbai which killed 166 people and were blamed on the banned Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

India wants Pakistan to take action against those behind the attacks before resuming a fragile peace process launched in 2004 that was frozen after the deadly assaults.

India, along with host Egypt, is a founding member of the NAM. The largest grouping of countries outside the United Nations, it is aimed at giving a voice to the developing world.

Founded in 1955, NAM’s 118 member states represent around 56 percent of the global population. NAM states consider themselves not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc.

Set up during the Cold War, the movement sought to distance itself from both the Western and Soviet blocs, but today its raison d’etre is questioned after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the ensuing shift in power politics.

NAM heads of state and government meet every three years. The next meeting will be held in Iran.

The movement groups 53 states from Africa, 38 from Asia, 26 from Latin America and the Caribbean, and just one from Europe — the former Soviet republic of Belarus.

It has 16 observer countries and nine observer organisations.

Ghanaian King Knighted in Malta, Articulates Bold Vision for Africa

(L-R), His Majesty King Adamtey I of Ghana; His Supreme Highness Baron Nicholas Papanicoalou; and Bishop Timothy Holley, members of the Ecumenical Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Knights of Malta.

Modern Ghana | Mar 5, 2009

MALTA – His Royal Majesty Drolor Bosso Adamtey I recently became the first African leader to be knighted into the Ecumenical Order of the Knights of Malta, Sovereign Order of St. John of Jerusalem.. King Adamtey, who is known in private life as Dr. Kingsley Fletcher, is the Suapolor of the Se (Shai) Traditional Area of Ghana. He is also a citizen of the United States.

King Adamtey was knighted in a ceremony which took place at the Order’s headquarters, Castello dei Baroni in Wardija, Malta on February 28.

The Ecumenical Order operates in a number of countries around the world, having donated over $40 million in goods and services to various charities in 2008. It has also received the blessing of Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI.

The order’s grand master, His Serene Highness Nicholas Papanicolaou, noted that “the applicable standard for all Orders of St. John is not how many countries they claim to have diplomatic relations with, but what the total product of their Christian charity and giving to the needy around the world is”.

His Majesty King Adamtey I of Ghana shakes hands wth His Supreme Highness Baron Nicholas Papanicoalou

King Adamtey’s investiture into the Knights of Malta is extremely significant as it reflects their respect for his tremendous humanitarian efforts in Africa and around the world. A recognized advocate for social justice and a scholar on cultures, traditions and world religions, King Adamtey is a former special advisor to the United Nations Development Programme-Africa and is the founder of Life for Africa, a humanitarian, non-governmental organization which addresses the ever-growing need of compassionate support for sub-Saharan African nations. He hopes that his membership in the Knights will help open doors for Africa and provide another avenue for people on the continent to partner with global leaders and organizations around the world. King Adamtey is known for his forward thinking, progressive leadership style and has often been quoted as saying, “Africa needs partners, not handouts.”

In an interview with local media in Malta, King Adamtey noted that he was representing “a new, rising, order made up of like-minded people” who are humanitarians just as he is.

“I believe strongly in the mission and purpose of the Ecumenical Order and I am delighted that they would recognize my work and my role as one that can also add to, or expand, their mission around the globe,” he said.

King Adamtey’s bold vision for a new Africa includes strengthening the technology infrastructure, educational advancement, economic development and job creation.

Muammar Gaddafi vows to create ‘United States of Africa’

Gaddafi is one of Africa’s longest-serving dictators, having taken power in a coup at the age of 29 in 1969. Photo: REUTERS

The Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi vowed to create a ‘United States of Africa’ after his election as head of the African Union.

Telegraph | Feb 3, 2009

Colonel Gaddafi, 66, was elected to lead the 53-nation AU for a year in a closed-door vote during a summit in Addis Ababa.

Dressed in a gold robe and cap, he made clear his intention to push for an alternative “USA” – a plan he has outlined before and that has met with resistance among fellow African leaders.

“I hope my term will be a time of serious work and not just words,” he said in his inaugural speech.

“I shall continue to insist that our sovereign countries work to achieve the United States of Africa,” he said, admitting that African leaders were “not near to a settlement” on the issue.

“We are still independent states. It is your decision to respond to the call for unity, to push Africa forward towards the United States of Africa.”

Gaddafi is one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders, having taken power in a coup at the age of 29 in 1969.

A natural showman known for his flamboyant attire, he has succeeded in getting traditional African leaders to bestow on him the title “King of Kings” in preference to the rather ordinary “chairperson” as his predecessor, President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania, was known.

He lobbied hard for the post, flying to numerous African capitals to campaign for his election.

The Libyan leader was for years ostracised by the West but has since been cautiously rehabilitated.

As part of his return to the international scene, Col Gaddafi has championed greater unity in Africa to boost the continent’s profile, and by default, his own influence.

He was a key architect of the transformation of the Organisation of African Unity into the African Union in 2001.

At the summit in the Ethiopian capital, he has pushed for even closer ties among African nations, to create a federation under a “union government”.

But many African leaders are loathe to relinquish any of their sovereignty, and during closed-door talks on Sunday they again blocked moves towards his dream of closer union.