The Gadfather Flexes His Muscles

Muammar Gaddafi's role as King of Kings, and head of the African Union looks to be heading for an acrimonious ending, as that little monkey known as 'rules' and possibly its cousin 'democracy' have reared their heads.

The problem is that Gaddafi is not exactly democratic by nature or inclination, or rather he practises 'one man, one vote', and he's that 'one man' with the 'one vote' in Libya.

Now that his one year reign as head of the African Union is coming to an end he is not a happy 'gadman'. His solution? Why not just change the rules so that he stays as head of the African Union? Simple! And to that end, one of Libya's Arab clients (no oil), Tunisia, has now suggested prior to a African heads of state summit next week, that Col Gaddafi stay on.

This would be fine if everyone just understood that Gaddafi is the only man for the job, but unfortunately some of the AU members don't quite see it the 'Gadfathers' way, and these 'troublemakers' are insisting that the AU rules mean that its Malawi's turn to lead the union.

"Personally I am confident that the candidature of Malawi is going to be endorsed by the whole African Union," said Eduardo Koloma , Mozambique's deputy foreign minister.

As usual with Africa, the sound of the begging bowl rattling is never far away. The AU is looking for $1.3bn for its programmes, Malawi is poor, Libya is by far the richest of the AU members (in terms of contributions), a deal is on the cards, and this blog is confident that with an exchange of cash to Malawi and the AU, our man will retain his status as the 'Big Man' of Africa.

STOP PRESS!

The BBC is reporting that Gadaffi has handed over the Chairmanship of the AU to the Malawian leader but apparently with not much good grace. He is reported as having complained about being sidelined, left out of decisions and most crucially, of not being invited to represent Africa at big meetings such as the G20, G7 and World Economic Forum at Davos.

He is also said to have made a very pointed reminder about how much funds Libya has contributed to the AU and suggested that as he had been in power the longest (no mean feat in a continent where re-election is optional) he should be given a special post in the organisation ........ obviously no elections are foreseen in Libya for the next decade or so.

I suspect that the AU will still be looking for the $1.5bn after this little episode.