United States of Africa

Somalia has been without a functioning central government for 18 years. Is it time to discuss partitioning the country into separate parts if there is a chance that will bring peace?
We can't go in that direction, otherwise we'll light the whole continent on fire. We know that Puntland and Somaliland [in northern Somalia] are peaceful. But it doesn't mean you should go and break Somalia into a hundred pieces. Somalia should be a peaceful country with a government like any other. For 18 years there has been disorder in Somalia on land, and it didn't bother many people. Now it's bothering them because of its extension on the sea. Piracy is one of the results of Somalia being 18 years without any government. You also have terrorism and arms and drug trafficking. The root cause of all this is that Somalia has no government.

What about Somalia's transitional federal government? It's going on its fifth year, controls just a small part of the territory, and doesn't have any functioning ministries. Has the international community made a mistake in backing them?
I don't think backing them was a mistake. I just think that this government does not work. The president is fighting with the prime minister. The parliamentarians are outside the country in Nairobi. It's very difficult to understand. You come to help people and they don't help themselves.

Do you think the commitment to democracy in some African countries has been weakened by the rise of China, which has raised the living standards of its people without democracy? Do countries like Ethiopia or Sudan look to that as a model?
The AU charter says that we should promote democracy, good governance, and human rights. Don't forget that before the 1990s the African continent was ruled by single-party states. It was said that democracy was a disease, that to build a nation you should have an authoritarian regime. There is a misconception that some leaders have that democratizing means weakening the state. It's not necessarily true. We are facing some difficulties, but we are 53 countries, and if your image of the continent is that of Zimbabwe or Somalia, it's not fair.

How do you think Africans view Barack Obama's victory?
There are many expectations. First of all, I think democracy in the United States gives hope to everybody. I mean, an African-American being elected? It would never happen in Europe.

Do you think in their hearts many Africans thought Obama would lose?
We were convinced that he would lose. This shows the strength of democracy in America. Most of those who elected Obama are white. The second thing is that there are expectations that Obama will bring a different way of ruling the world. It seems that America is not going to continue to rule the world with a stick.

President Bush was unpopular overseas because of Iraq, Guantánamo, and now the financial crisis. But he's also committed an enormous amount of money—$15 billion in his first five years—for HIV/AIDS and other diseases. Is it fair to say that Bush has been better for Africa than President Clinton because of the amount of money for AIDS initiatives?
No. Before Clinton, the U.S. had no Africa policy. The continent was left to its former colonial rulers. Clinton brought focus to Africa. And Bush maybe increased it.

© 2008