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

Record ID: 455445

  • Title: SIERRA LEONE: Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi touts a pan African government en route to African Union summit
  • Date: 29th June 2007
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) LIBYAN PRESIDENT, MUAMMAR GADDAFI, SAYING: "What do you African people need or want? The African people need unity for the African continent, they need power for Africa, they want peace for Africa, they want stability for Africa. (SOUNDBITE) (English) LIBYAN PRESIDENT, MUAMMAR GADDAFI, SAYING: "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." CROWD WAVING (SOUNDBITE) (English) HEALTH WORKER, ALHAJI ALUSINE BARRIE, SAYING: "Actually we really appreciate his visit, because we know a lot of good he has done for this country and we believe that we will still reap more benefit out of this. We tell Tejan Kabbah plenty thank you for making it possible for the Libyan president come to this country, and it's not only that he come but he come down to the grassroots and made sure we see him and shake hands with him. We really appreciate that." (SOUNDBITE) (English) RELIGIOUS LEADER, ALHAJI UMARR KANU, SAYING: "A Muslim like me, a Muslim brother, we are one. I think he is ready to promote Africa and Sierra Leone, to make them know their rights and make them know what they have in Africa." VARIOUS OF GADDAFI LEAVING THE STADIUM
  • Embargoed: 14th July 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Sierra Leone
  • Country: Sierra Leone
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVABLMBE7OG3RAMG6KSZ584EI2NV
  • 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.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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