In Mali, important African civil society organizations launched the «Pan African Civil Society Front». Composed of movements like «Y en a marre», «Balai citoyen», «Le peuple n’en veut plus» or the famous artist Tiken Jah Fakoly, the front has in sight the former French president Nicolas Sarkozy, accused of having «provoked the intervention in Libya and the assassination of Colonel Kadafi» which would have led to the «destabilization of the whole continent».
On Saturday, October 7, in Bamako, the front was born, according to its initiators, «to promote democracy, the dignity of Africa and human rights». Among the movements that compose it, is «Y’en a marre», a collective of rappers and journalists created in early 2011 in Senegal, where it opposed the third term of the old president Abdoulaye Wade in 2012. There is also Burkina Faso’s «Balai citoyen», which played a decisive role in the fall of Blaise Compaoré in October 2014. The sponsor of the coalition is not unknown to the battalion: it is the highly engaged artist Tiken Jah Fakoly, who has not made a mystery of his support for the movement.
Already, the coalition has signaled itself by an action which is making headlines: a complaint to the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Nicolas Sarkozy, the former French president, whom it accuses of having triggered the war in Libya, during which Muammar Kadafi was killed. The «crime against humanity» complaint, according to the coalition, was filed the same day in The Hague by a lawyer residing in Canada.
In 2011, a multinational military intervention in Libya led to the fall and then the death of Kadafi. Six years later, this country struggles to climb the slope of the disorder created by the fall of Kadafi. A fall after eight months of civil war that sparked divisions and reinforced the culture of confrontation. Worse, Libya has become a security threat in the sub-region.
The coalition expects a reaction from the ICC, which is being challenged. On the continent, the ICC is accused of «persecuting Africans, especially their leaders». The meeting ended yesterday, Sunday 8 September, in Bamako. But another subject is of concern to the coalition on the continent: in Togo, for a month, Faure Gnassingbé, who succeeded his late father in 2005, is no longer strong and faces the storm of a popular protest. The coalition demands democracy in Togo. For the Guinean Elie Kamano of «Le peuple n’en veut plus», «ECOWAS must tell the truth to Faure».
Sahelien.com