By Mathieu Bonkoungou OUAGADOUGOU, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Africa risks descending into tribalism unless it creates a continental government, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi said on Friday, days after Libya began deporting thousands of illegal African migrants. Against the backdrop of violent political unrest in Kenya, Gaddafi told West African heads of state at a summit in Burkina Faso that narrow nationalism would only lead to more conflict in the world's poorest continent. "It is the era of big blocs. Nation states cannot respond to the current challenges," Gaddafi told the summit of the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States in the Burkinabe capital, Ouagadougou. "Africa is on the road to perdition and risks returning to the era of tribalism if she continues with the nation-state," he warned. The Libyan leader was attending the conference as the special guest of Burkinabe President Blaise Compaore. Gaddafi, who has ruled Libya since a 1969 revolution, said the violence in Sudan's Darfur region was a product of the weakness of the Sudanese nation state. "If we remain at the stage of nation states, there will be many Darfurs in Africa," he said. Gaddafi is a vocal advocate of Pan-African government, taking up the mantle of independence heroes like Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah by rejecting national borders imposed by colonial powers in Africa. "If we had listened to Nkrumah, Africa would be at the same level today as Europe and America," Gaddafi said. But he made no reference to his government's decision on Wednesday to start deporting illegal migrants, mostly from poor sub-Saharan African states who are trying to reach Europe. Tripoli is under pressure at home to tackle the problem of illegal immigrants whom officials and locals blame for spreading insecurity and taking jobs from unemployed Libyan youths. Italy and other European Union states also want Libya to stem the flow of illegal migrants into the EU. His pockets flush with revenues from record oil prices, Gaddafi is often feted during his tours of poor African nations, where he insists on travelling for large distances by road and is renowned for handing out generous gifts. However, his proposal to push ahead immediately with the formation of a Pan-African government was rejected by a summit of the African Union in Ghana last year. Many leaders backed a step-by-step approach, consolidating regional blocs first. (Writing by Daniel Flynn; Editing by Pascal Fletcher and Giles Elgood)
One of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leaders, Najib Balala (3rd R), gestures near the body of a dead opposition protester in the port city of Mombasa January 18, 2008. At ...
