by Joseph Robertson

Created on: July 27, 2008   Last Updated: July 30, 2008

There are few things more damaging to the right of witnesses and bystanders to contribute to the resolution of a given problem than harboring the assumption that no one involved has anything to contribute. For western and Asian lookers on, viewing the problems of the African continent as outsiders, there is absolutely nothing to be gained by surrendering to the ugly bias of the belief that Africans cannot contribute to the change and development they both need and deserve.

First of all, it is foolish to adopt a position so far removed from the reality of the situation. Is Nelson Mandela not an African man? Was his movement not an African movement? Is his African National Congress party not still effecting change by taking up the lessons of the outside world and the real situation and requirements of the African residents of the nation they govern? This is but one example.

If we look to Mozambique, we also see that it was artists coming together in the capital Maputo who dreamed up and initiated the 'tree of life' project, taking used weapons and molding them into new aesthetic entities, in order to create an expressive world of sculpture, illustrating the possibility of creating something human and hopeful by turning the tools of war into a symbol of peace and reconciliation. This is another way forward that symbolizes the kind of mission to be undertaken in any post-war condition, where a society needs to be reborn, inspired with a new breath of life.

In some of the worst wars in recent memories, like the civil war whose aftershocks still threaten the Democratic Republic of Congo, in which over 4 million people lost their lives, much of the conflict and chaos was brought on by the interests and the interference of African neighbors (some estimate 14 different nations in the region backed one or more factions in the seemingly limitless bloodshed), and those same nations can achieve solutions that save DR Congo from the devastation they helped it to reach.

In Darfur, we have an ongoing and gathering wave of international pressure to end the genocide, but the conflict is motivated by interests that include political frictions with Chad, oil profits and the government's own policies on royalties, Khartoum's wish to end all the civil wars without ceding power or seeing the country fragmented, and by deep-seated tribal conflicts, with ethnic, religious and territorial roots.

There, it has been the effectiveness of the African Union as a negotiating body and as an international

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>