Mubarak humiliation ‘bad for Africa’

Retired Nigerian leader Olusegun Obasanjo has termed as a big embarrassment the humbling images of former Egyptian president caged in a Cairo courtroom to answer to murder charges.

Mr Obasanjo said the trial of the dethroned President Hosni Mubarak was counterproductive.

Speaking in Mombasa at the ongoing leadership and governance convention, the retired President said the humiliation Mr Mubarak was going through would make many leaders facing similar circumstances think twice about leaving office peacefully.

It also makes the work of negotiating for such leaders’ peaceful exit from power difficult, the former Nigerian leader said.

“I am not holding brief for anybody. But what is happening is making the problem of leadership more and more difficult.

“Let them do whatever they want to do with Mubarak but putting him in a cage like chicken is not proper,” he told the 2nd Africa Governance, Leadership and Management Convention 2011 at Whitesands Hotel.

Mr Obasanjo was reacting to Wednesday’s appearance in court by Mr Mubarak to answer to charges related to the killing of his citizens who were pushing for his removal in the wake of the pro-reform upheaval that rocked Egypt, Tunisia and other Arab nations.

World audiences watched an ailing Mubarak lying on a stretcher wheeled into a specially-designed and caged courtroom section from where he answered to the charges alongside his son and former close aides.

While expressing his dismay at what had befallen Mr Mubarak, Mr Obasanjo drew comparisons from the case of another African strongman — Charles Taylor of Liberia — now being tried at the International Criminal Court in The Hague for slaughter of his citizens.

He narrated how a team of leaders that included himself, former South African President Thabo Mbeki, Ghana’s John Kufuor and Joaquim Chissano of Mozambibue persuaded Mr Taylor to leave office.

In return, Mr Taylor was promised a safe haven in Nigeria where he could live peacefully, concentrate on his businesses and private life.

“Charles Taylor was planning to settle down peacefully. He even talked of emulating me by becoming a farmer,” said Mr Obasanjo.

However, this was not to be as Mr Taylor was extradited to The Hague to answer to charges of crimes against humanity due to international pressure.