The suspicion that the foreign policy of the Western Powers towards Africa is marked by a series of double standards and inconsistencies has come to the fore again, with the recent UN backed enforcement of the “NO FLY ZONE” with a series of military air strikes in Libya. While the intervention of the UN backed Western forces in checkmating the annihilation of Libyan citizens by the maverick and severely unstable Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is commendable, it is also very surprising that the same haste and urgency of this intervention has not been replicated in the Ivory Coast in the west coast of Africa.
It may be recalled that this West African nation has been embroiled in civil strife which has continued to degenerate making the possibility of a full scale war imminent, all as a result of the blatant usurpation of power by Laurent Gbagbo who was defeated in the Ivorian presidential elections. Indeed it is quite ironical that France which colonized Cote D’Ivoire and has a pervasive political, economic and cultural influence on this country has been tepid and almost embarrassingly silent since the Ivorian crises broke out, has taken the lead in enforcing the no fly zone over Libya.
It is pertinent for the Western World to realize that what may guarantee universal peace and security across the globe in the long term is the morality that underscores foreign intervention in the internal affairs of countries in addition to equity and fairness.
