As bizarre as this might sound, Zuma is quoted by The Times as saying there was stability in the Arib region until the so-called ‘Arab Spring’ and the “actions taken in the bombarding of Libya and killing of its leader opened the floodgates … today those who were part of destabilising that part of the world, they do not want to accept the refugees. It is their responsibility. They caused it, they must address it.”
Speaking in Pretoria the president said European countries’ interference in Libya and the ignoring of Africa’s road map to restore stability in that region had triggered the influx.
Our old ‘bright spark’ of a president then failed to mention that South Africa actually voted in favour of the UN Security Council resolution authorising a no-fly zone in Libya and the subsequent attacks. Resolution 1973 was passed by the Security Council shortly after Gaddafi ordered ground and air strikes to quell a popular uprising.
South Africa later claimed it had been kept in the dark about the intensity of the bombardment required to enforce the no-fly zone.
Responding to Zuma, Roeland van der Geer, African Union ambassador to South Africa, said causes of the security crises in North Africa was the lack of democracy and the rule of governance.
“We lay the responsibility for what is happening in the countries of the Maghreb clearly in the hands of the leaders who were dictators and did not respect democracy,” he said.
A good question to ask Zuma is why all the refugees are fleeing north into the bad old Europe and not south into the rest of Africa?
