Tutu: Africa has failed Libya
Anglican Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu. Anglican Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu.
STAFF REPORTER
Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu has blamed African leaders for allowing Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi to wield unfettered power.
Tutu yesterday hit out at African leaders’ failure to exert peer pressure in favour of democracy.
“If Africa’s leaders held their peers to account there would be no need for the people of Libya to suffer human rights violations,” the founder of the Desmond Tutu Peace Centre said. “And there would be no need for United Nations-sanctioned military interventions in Libya.”
Of the past fortnight, Tutu said: “The scenes of brutality being meted out with sophisticated weaponry by Libyan security forces against their own civilian population make God weep. With every blow they strike they bring shame on Africa,” Tutu said.
He praised the government for having supported United Nations Resolution 1973, which approved the enforcement of a no-fly zone above Libya, and any measures necessary to protect Libyans’ lives.