Time for the African Union to take the lead in Libya

Now that NATO's mess-up is self evident in Libya it is time for the African Union to step in and clean up. Libya has been transformed from being a major African player to a total wreck in the space of six short months, thanks to an overzealous and ultimately ungrateful Sarkozy (how can he turn on someone who gave him campaign funds).

It is up to the African Union to organise troops from say Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria and Morrocco to go and shore up the the NTC in Libya, the same way the AU has stabilised Somalia. The only way the NTC can bring the mushrooming militias in Libya under controls is have a large amount of carrots as well as a big stick.

Militias should be disarmed through a well financed voluntary civil reintegration program. Those who surrender their guns should be given money and training for skills useful to society. At the same time the NTC needs to start seriously building up a military shored by fellow African troops like what is happening in Somalia.

Given the NATO and Western media encouraged perception that black Africans were Gadhafi's chief backers, it would not be advisable to send troops from countries like South Africa, Zimbabwe, Uganda or Nigeria. Therefore the AU would have no choice but to rely on countries like Egypt which are also battling with their own internal problems.

Already it looks like the NATO exacerbated crisis in Libya is going to spread to other countries in the region with Mali already divided and in deep civil conflict inflamed by the easy availability of weapons from Gadhafi's armouries. If a negotiated transition had been allowed in Libya, those arms would have remained in secure hands and none of them would have found their way into the hands of rebel groups in the region.

Due to what is at best NATO naivete, at worst a callous attack on African stability, the reality is that the AU is now left to deal with the fallout of bad decisions by others - NATO. The AU have their own faults, but you do not pour hot oil a man because he is diseased. NATO poured hot oil on Africa in destabilising Libya one of the chief backers of the African Union. Now it looks like the hot oil has splashed onto Libya's neighbours with Mali being the first to show evidence of serious burns.

If the African Union does not act now to try and contain the situation, the Arab Spring could soon be followed by a Sahel Winter. It is no use looking to Europe for a solution. Europe is only good a creating Africa's problems not solving them. They created African poverty through colonialism not it seems they are bent on creating African instability.