Continent Must Not Just Remain a Learner.

Byline: Prof. Ali A. Mazrui

The African Union has the promise of promoting closer integration in Africa if it can overcome some structural handicaps. It also needs a visionary, a role that the Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi, has been working on for decades.

Gaddafi has been prepared to use his country's wealth to promote Arab, African, and Muslim solidarity.

Gaddafi regards oil as a historic opportunity for present day Muslims to ensure an influential role for Islam in world affairs. But over time his nationalism has steadily become more secular.

The West has repeatedly subsidised dissident movements within the Third World, like Pesident …