The King and I: Reflections on the Brotherly Leader as he hovers on the brink

I have never met Libya's Colonel Muammar Gaddafi  but unlike some, I remember very clearly the first time I heard his name.  It was not during his dramatic visit to Ghana for an African Union summit in 2007 when he led a convoy of 109 cars  across the Sahara desert and set up a tent camp in Accra for the duration of the summit. No. The first time I heard his name was when I  was 8 years old and my family (then resident in Southern Africa) were on holiday in Ghana for Christmas. In the sweltering December heat, we found ourselves stuck in traffic for a few hours all because a certain "Colonel Muammar Gaddafi" was visiting Ghana. It seemed like an eternity in hell. To this day, I'm still not sure why a state visit by Colonel Gaddafi had halted traffic but at the time, the seeds of bitterness and suspicion were firmly implanted in my 8 year old mind.

Over the years since, I caught glimpses of  the eccentric and mercurial Gaddafi as he has drifted through the international news for:

• The Pam Am Flight 103 / Lockerbie Bombing in 1988
• The Bulgarian nurses and Palestinian doctor incident in which foreign medical personnel were  accused of spreading HIV in a Benghazi hospital
• The (in)famous female crack bodyguards
• His aptly-named son Hannibal's brushes with the law in Switzerland
• The release of the 'Lockerbie Bomber' and the ensuing controversy

Curiously, in recent years, Gaddafi has taken a more than active role in African politics. As chairman of the AU, he led a clarion call  for a united Africa.To me his real agenda remained unclear. Was he thinking of a fortified and strengthened Africa? Did he have our interests at heart? Did he envisage himself as the leader of this united Africa? Perhaps a King of Africa?

Gaddafi and Berlusconi in 2010: Both making negative headlines in 2011

Last year, Colonel Gaddafi true feelings about Africa became more  transparent.  In  a state visit to Italy, he called for 6.3 billion dollars a year to stop illegal African immigrants. He was sure to make his case by pandering to base racist elements by calling for a prevention of a “Black Europe”. He tore the last shred of African dignity left by painting a bleak picture of invading and barbaric black hordes assembled outside the pearly gates of Europe. Interestingly, Gaddafi asked for the money not to reduce push factors within African countries that lead to migration but for money to beef up Libyan security.

But that was last year. In 2011, the world has watched  in awe as the once-strong Gaddafi is unraveling before our eyes. His very sudden decline would be more than comical if it was not having such tragic consequences.

Final Stand: Gaddafi in February 2011

Gaddafi is currently waging war against his own people and blaming his current woes on everything from the youth fueled by drugs from the West and now even Al-Qaeda has been fingered. After almost 42 years in power it appears that Gaddafi is confused as to where he ends and Libya begins. He appears to see attacks on Libya as attacks on him. He is promising to go down fighting and wants to take Libya down with him. The world is watching horrified but hopeful.  Are we  going to bid  farewell to the regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi? Can I finally cross off the current occupant of the Number 1 spot on the list of African-leaders-still-in-power-when-I-was-in primary-school?

Of Winds of Change, Domino Effects and Irrepressible People Power

"....Take me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow dream away
in the wind of change..."

'Wind of Change' - The Scorpions

Almost twenty years ago, the 1990 power ballad by the German hard-rock group The Scorpions 'Wind of Change' hit the charts worldwide. Perhaps  its  the whistle prelude coupled with the guitar intro that still makes this song so popular but its powerful lyrics celebrate the political changes that had swept rapidly across Eastern Europe leading to the collapse of the Communist bloc in the very early '90s. Although it was probably inevitable, the eventual decimation of the Eastern bloc started with irrepressible people-inspired revolutions that spread rapidly like wildfire across Eastern and Central Europe from Poland, Hungary, East Germany, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia to Romania. The final nail in the coffin for the  Communist bloc was the disintegration of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1991. In the  end, it was NOT Western capitalism, Western democracy or James Bond that won the Cold War but irrepressible people power. 

Yes James; part of me always thought 007 would win the Cold War!

Twenty years on, similar people-inspired revolutions are sweeping across the Middle East/North Africa. The world witnessed in amazement how events of December 2010 in Tunisia led to the toppling of the once-strong Zine El Abidine Ben Ali regime. Could anyone have predicted that a domino effect would lead to protests in other countries within the region? A year ago, could anyone fathom that irrepressible people power would result in the resignation of one of the stalwarts of Middle-Eastern politics over the past 30 years, Hosni Mubarak? 

Former President of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak. I still find it bewildering to be typing "former"
Source: bbc.co.uk

Although Egypt's immediate future is fraught with uncertainties and the stability of the region hangs in the balance, for the moment there is jubilation and celebration. It is becoming apparent that a strong wind of change is blowing across the Middle East/North Africa, the entire African continent and perhaps the world. Suddenly, the possibilities of people power are becoming endless.

As the list of African-leaders-still-in-power-when-I-was-in primary-school becomes shorter, one wonders where the next point of call for the wind of change is:

• Libya?
• Equatorial Guinea?
• Zimbabwe?

One thing is for certain, autocratic leaders and dictators across the globe should be quivering in their boots. The people they take for granted and govern with impunity are growing weary of accepting the status quo. They are now facing forward towards a future filled with liberty, peace and democracy.

"...The wind of change

Blows straight into the face of time

Like a stormwind that will ring the freedom bell

For peace of mind...."

'Wind of Change' - The Scorpions