An African peace initiative for the Russo - Ukrainian war conflict seems to be a spate for the African Pan Africanists.
For years, we have been urging and convincing ourselves as Africans that African problems need African solutions. We have convinced ourselves that no Western solution will be able to solve African problems.
So doesn't it come as a surprise that African leaders are busy crafting an African peace solution for a war conflict in the European continent?!
Somalia is still burning. Much of Somalia territory is still in the hands of the jihadists. There are still territorial unresolved issues between Somalia and Somaliland. Governance issues in Somalia have heightened the mistrust and hatred among the Somalis.
The DRC is still burning. Much of the country is still ungovernable and under warlords and militias which continues to hamper proper exploitation of it's endowment for the benefit of the Congolese. There is continued animosity and mistrust between the government of the DRC and her neighbors.
Chad is still burning. The Sereka rebels continue to wreck havoc and the poor wananchi have never enjoyed peace in over 15 years.
Mali is still burning. The Islamic jihadists continue to wreck havoc while the Wagner mercenaries hired under the guise of the Russian Military Technical Support have embarked on plundering the country to fund the Wagner military ventures in Ukraine.
Sudan is burning. The two previously collaborative military fronts of the two Sudanese military henchmen are at each other's throats. The whole of Sudan is in flames from Omdurman, to Darfur and to Khartoum. Sudanese are not only dying of bullets, sharpnells, but they are also dying of starvation and lack of drinking water and shelter.
What are the practical African solutions to these current practical African problems all around us?
There can't be an African solution for a European problem in the Russo-Ukrainian war without first providing an African solution to the African problems in those current conflict hot spots in Africa.
There is no peace initiative that the current African leaders can possibly present or suggest to another continent. That is the honest truth.
They had better concentrate on finding solutions to solve the immense problems and internal governance contradictions that continue to bedevil their own countries first.
"First remove a log in your eyes before trying to remove a speck in someone else's eyes" it would be hypocrisy and deception of the highest order for African leaders to posture that they have a solution to the Russo - Ukrainian conflict while they can't find solutions for the littarny of conflicts all over the African continent.
Several Pan Africanists from Ghanian Kwame Nkurumah to today's outspoken Prof. Patrick Otieno Lumumba (Prof. PLO) have severally called for African solutions to African problems.
We have been incessantly reminded of the fact that although the African colonialists and imperialists left Africa 60 years ago, the fact and real truth is that these colonialists are still alive and kicking.
As we ought to abhor the exportation of western neo-colonialism and imperialism to Africa the same way we ought to be skeptical of the current so called African peace initiative to solve a conflict in Europe.
Some people have argued that African leaders had a duty to step in the Russian - Ukranian conflict because it has actually caused a global food crisis with the rising cost of food and fertilizers, a situation that is adversly threatening Africa's food security.
True and real the threat of food security for many African countries as it may be particularly to those countries of Africa that depend mainly on imports of wheat from Russia and Ukraine, the reality is that our African leaders must wake up to the global dynamics.
The African leaders would better concentrate on finding solutions to the issues of rising costs of food and fertilizers within the confines of their economic innovations and management than trying to seek for adhoc measures as solutions to the problem.
These leaders have had all ample time and the goodwill of the people by being elected to offices more than once, with the hope that they would use their stay in those offices to find lasting solutions to Africa's problems. The issue of food security in Africa is not new. The Whites whom we often conviniently chastise and demonize did even organize world music concerts to fundraise for food for the starving Africans many years ago. So, why is it come that these leaders are trying to shift their failure for proper national planning and economy management to a war that has only lasted a year? What if those war protagonists choose to continue waging their war for more years to come. What will become of Africa's survival which seems to so dependant on wheat and fertilizers from the two war raging countries.
An African solution should be expeditiously found to the rising cost of food for the Africans.
Long live African Pan Africanism!