Top Anti-American Leaders Attend African Summit
Julie Farby - All Headline News Staff Writer Banjul, Gambia (AHN) - Two of the world's most anti-American leaders, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, attended this weekend's Africa summit in Gambia to the dismay of Western diplomats. Both lived up to their billing with Chavez railing against U.S. "hegemony" and Ahmadinejad blaming Western greed for "poverty, backwardness, regional conflicts, corruption, illicit drugs." Some Western diplomats suggested the two controversial invitations may also have been intended to underline Africa's breakaway from the influence of former colonial powers in Europe, with one European ambassador saying, "At one time the links with Europe were still strong. But in the 21st century Africa wants to show that these links have finally been broken." However, Professor Shadrack Gutto, director of African Renaissance Studies at the University of South Africa, says the presence of Chavez and Ahmadinejad should not be seen as anti-Western. He says, "The AU is not suddenly turning against the West. These visits were not ideologically decided and there isn't necessarily an anti-Western aspect to it." Gutto also says, "It does indicate that collectively, as the 53 members of the AU, when they come together the West will not choose for them who they invite or who their friends are," adding that, "They are saying Africa can have a position that differs with that of the West."< |
