Speaker, the desire for more freedom, dignity and decent employment has been growing steadily in the Middle East and North African region. Now that existing power relationships have been shredded, the need for mechanisms for good governance and the resolution of remaining tensions are critical.
In Libya there are no mechanisms in place at all to even begin to address ongoing tensions or the increasingly desperate humanitarian situation. The ACDP calls on the African Union, AU, and African leaders to focus on supporting the Libyan people in rebuilding their country and their lives, and we support offers by South Africa to assist in the drafting of a constitution to put such mechanisms in place.
We are also encouraged by the release of funds, facilitated by the United Nations Security Council, which we hope will significantly ease the hardships currently being endured by the people of Libya. An all-inclusive transition to peace, unity and democracy is likely to be a long and very hard road.
While the ACDP supports legitimate aspirations of the people in North Africa and the Middle East for democracy, justice, peace and security, we are aware that many forces are at work in what has been dubbed the Arab Spring. Commentators say that the budding of democracy may not be the full story or even a significant part of the story. The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation's, Nato, intervention in Libya, for example, is believed by many to have had more to do with Gaddafi's plan to launch a gold dinar and sink the United States dollar than the protection of people under attack from their own leader.
Others like Dr Walid Phares have cautioned that true secular reformers could be outmanoeuvred and marginalised by the Muslim Brotherhood throughout the region. While masses, and particularly real revolutionary youth, were exploding against dictators from Egypt to Libya and Yemen to Syria, Islamist networks were said to be systematically climbing the ladder of each national revolt.
Regardless of the complexities, promoting and practising good governance as a means of advancing peace and security is key in the Middle East and North Africa, just as it is anywhere else in the world. It is also imperative that the people in any country assume full ownership of their own future and resist becoming dependent on others. Thank you.