African leaders were warned they couldn't guarantee their safety if they intervened in Libya. When Gaddafi was killed on African soil without African control, it raised hard questions about the continent's power over its own security and resources. Years later, Libya's oil revenues remain unaccounted for and the country is destabilized.
The first video I saw of you was the video where you were speaking to some— I think a kind of program, telling some of the people there, particularly about the death of Gaddafi. You described something very painful, that some African leaders were trying to intervene and it was communicated to them that they cannot guarantee their safety. You want to get deeper into that?
It should not have happened on African soil.
The killing of Gaddafi.
The killing of Gaddafi and the lack of control. Africa had no control over the agenda. It was not our place. Yes, right, according to powers that be. Yes. We wanted to have a conversation that was rooted in the realities. That room in Kigali where I told that story, where you saw the video, was filled with military ministers of, you know, internal security, defense, etc. So these are people who can make serious decisions at country level when it comes to security, but also need to inform the security apparatus of the African continent. Yes. And my question to that room is, do we have any control? Do we have any power on our continent? Or truly, are we just powerless?
When Gaddafi died, did you feel Gaddafi was a bad person?
I didn't know. I wasn't sure. And this in itself is a problem.
Yes.
And I remember a debate, my friends, all of— and maybe even in your environments, people were debating, and some people were saying, leave Gaddafi alone. Others were saying, it's time for Gaddafi to be taken down, his people want him to be taken down, he's been a bad leader. Now the question I will ask today, whatever we thought of Gaddafi at the time, yes, are the Libyan people in a better condition today than they were under Gaddafi. Yeah. Is Africa in a better condition today? And actually, the whole region was destabilized as a result of the removal of Gaddafi. Yes. The other question I would ask us now as Africans is, where does the oil revenue of Libya go? How many years is it now?
Several years.
They've just— it was supposed to be a democratic process. Yes. And now happening Yes. Gaddafi's son was just assassinated. I don't have any skin in that game. I, I don't vote in Libya.
Yes.
I can't profess to know the ins and outs and all the details, but I can ask some questions. As they go to another process, another assassination happens. Until today, who knows where the wealth of Libya goes?
