Africa – 22 August 2014

No Nato deed goes unpunished
Diplomats warned chaos and violence would follow a Libya intervention. They were right.Black smoke billows across the sky when a petrol depot was set ablaze after a rocket assault. The attack, along with the attempted takeover of Tripoli’s airport, signifies an increase in the intensity of the fighting. (Stringer)
As Libya descends into chaos in the worst violence the country has known since the ousting of former leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, African diplomats are saying: we told you so.Jean Ping, the former chairperson of the African Union Commission, told the Mail & Guardian this week that the AU strongly opposed the Nato intervention in Libya three years ago because it believed it would cause untold harm in the region and could lead to civil war in the country. Mail and Guardian

African-Americans have little faith in US justice
Police officer Darren Wilson has not been seen in public since shooting Michael Brown, and black Americans doubt whether he will face justice.
Some African-Americans believe that the white police officer who shot unarmed black teen Michael Brown will get off ‘scot-free’. (Reuters)
Outrage over the fatal shooting of Michael Brown is giving way to anger that the white police officer who pulled the trigger might never face justice. Mail and Guardian

Africa cries out for healthcare boost
So while a western corner of Africa writhes in the deadly grip of the Ebola virus, there are signs this emergency may serve as a wake-up call to strengthen spending and investment on public healthcare in the world’s least developed continent.
“If anything, I think it is teaching us something,” Mustapha Sidiki Kaloko, the African Union’s Commissioner for Social Affairs, told reporters in Addis Ababa this month. ZA News

West Africa must confront political weaknesses to curb drugs trade: Obasanjo
West Africa must openly confront its political and governance weaknesses to curb the growing drug trade in the region, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo said on Wednesday.
“West Africa is no longer only a transit zone of drugs but an attractive destination where pushers take advantage of the weak political system to perpetuate their trade,” Obasanjo, who chairs the West Africa Commission on Drugs (WACD), said while presenting his report to Ghana’s President John Mahama. ZA News