Surely, the African nations in attendance (of United States’ embassy opening in Jerusalem) know that they cannot endorse one crime and condemn the other – all in the same breath.- Azad Essa (Middle-Eastern Journalist)
One of the many reasons an average individual is not often interested in international relations is mostly because of the inhumane trade of morality and innocent lives for power among actors in the international system.
This is somewhat evident in light of the recent events in Gaza and the West Bank where more than 50 people have died and hundreds injured. More evidently, in the shameful support of some African countries for Israel’s assault on Palestinians by attending the opening ceremony in Jerusalem – a disputed chunk of land.
The question here is not whether Jerusalem is the eternal capital of Israel or not – which of course is not Africa’s question to answer; the problem is why are African leaders leaving all the problems bevedeling their countries and diving into a territory that does not warrant their participation?
How does choosing sides between two warring factions (Israel and Palestine) reduce Africa’s foreign debt? Alternatively, will heaven fall if they join other countries in stressing a diplomatic solution to the dispute over Jerusalem? How does thisput food on the tables of millions of poor African families? We have only deep our hands into the blood and chaos in the Middle-East while leaving our own backyard unkept.
Jerusalem is not Africa’s problem to solve, fighting poverty and insecurity on the other hand is a good way to start.
The governments of Angola, Cameroon, Congo Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Sudan,Tanzania and Zambia should be ashamed of themselves. All of whom with millions of people languishing in poverty and insecurity of all categories.
Albeit, out of these twelve countries, Rwanda, Cameroon and South Sudan had earlier abstained in the December 2017 vote on the same issue while the remaining nine voted against the US for moving the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. So, why the sudden change in policy if not to swing the way of power and money?
One thing is however certain, it would be interesting to see how the participatory African countries would deal with a consequential isolation in the United Nations and other international treaties as only 33 out of 192 UN member-states (excluding Israel) attended the ceremony last week.
Anoba is Executive Director, African Liberty Organization for Development
