SIERRA LEONE: Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi touts a pan African government en route to African Union summit

Record ID: 455444

  • Title: SIERRA LEONE: Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi touts a pan African government en route to African Union summit
  • Date: 29th June 2007
  • Summary: (AD1) FREETOWN, SIERRA LEONE (JUNE 26, 2007) (REUTERS) WIDE OF CROWD AT FREETOWN STADIUM PEOPLE IN CROWD HOLDING PHOTOGRAPHS OF GADDAFI MEDIUM SHOT OF CROWD CLOSE UP OF NUNS IN CROWD MORE OF CROWD LIBYAN PRESIDENT, MUAMMAR GADDAFI, BESIDE LIMOUSINE IN STADIUM AND SALUTES CROWD CLOSE-UP OF GADDAFI SEATED, READING GADDAFI SITTING ALONGSIDE SIERRA LEONE PRESIDENT, TEJAN KABBAH
  • Embargoed: 14th July 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Sierra Leone
  • Country: Sierra Leone
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVAE34V6PERO5B1Y75IU5YUX8TYY
  • Story Text: Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was in Sierra Leone on Tuesday (June 26) on the latest leg of his mission to push through a plan for an African continental government. The visit was part of a West Africa tour en route to a summit to discuss the proposal in Ghana.
    Gaddafi arrived at the Freetown stadium with Sierra Leone president Ahmed Tejan Kabbah. He told the large crowd waiting for him inside the stadium: "What you need, you need African unity, you need Africa to be very strong like Europe, like United States of America. One African people, one African unity, one African army, one African country, one African identity."
    The Libyan president will be pushing his agenda alongside like-minded African leaders who want to bring the continent under a single federal government as part of proposals to be discussed by the African Union's (AU) 53 member states, at the summit in Accra starting on July 1.
    Some doubt the feasibility of uniting a continent of 800 million of the world's poorest people divided by ethnic, political and religious differences as well as a network of often arbitrary colonial-era borders.
    Supporters say a single government would strengthen Africa's hand in international trade talks and other key policy areas.
    Alhaji Alusine Barrie, a health worker from Freetown who was in the stadium, said Gaddafi's visit would be beneficial to Sierra Leone and praised him for coming "down to the grassroots" and shaking hands with members of the crowd.
    Alhaji Umarr Kanu, a religious leader in Freetown, echoes these comments, calling Gaddafi "a Muslim brother."
    Gaddafi is due to visit Ivory Coast on Wednesday (June 27) on his way to the African Union summit in Accra.
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