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"African Union cannot take care of internal African affairs, and so they have to go after the former colonial masters who owed these countries under colonialism, and seek their help in order to bring peace. Most people would just say that they have the UN mandate and the African Union approved of it, but it shows the inability of the 54 African nations to resolve internal problems within the African continent," Akbar Muhammad, international representative of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, told The Voice of Russia.

- How critical is the current situation in Central African Republic?

- It's critical because it begins to make people see that on the African continent because of what's happening in Nigeria there is a schism between Muslims and Christians who have existed together in many African countries for years with no problem. This is one of the main issues. The second issue is that the French have sent in over thousand soldiers now. And this morning's news is saying that they have brought some level of civility or peace in the people or back on the streets. And what it signals is that the African Union cannot take care of internal African affairs, and so they have to go after the former colonial masters who owed these countries under colonialism, and seek their help in order to bring peace. Now, most people would just say that they have the UN mandate and the African Union approved of it, but it shows the inability of the 54 African nations to resolve internal problems within the African continent. It would be like the Soviet Union and all of the breakaway countries that separated from the Soviet Union, Uzbekistan and all of them, that if they had an internal problem, they would have to send for the Japanese to come in or they would have to send for Americans to come in and deal with it in that region with those who are able to handle it. And this is a very sensitive situation because of what's just happened in Mali.

- So, do you think, will they be able to cut increasing sectarian violence in the country?

- They would absolutely be able to. You know, the Central African Republic is surrounded by 5 countries. And, quite naturally, they spill over from the Sudan and Chad inside that country, just as the problem with Joseph Kony and Uganda. He escaped into Central African Republic and this is where they are trying to negotiate with him now. So, you have the same problem with the Darfur crisis and the recent crisis in Chad, they spill over into the border, there are already Muslims and the Islamic communities in Central African Republic, and whatever problems they have in those surrounding countries, they bring it into that country. And then, the tradition in Africa is not to fight over whether there is an Islamic leader or a Christian leader, because this is not good and healthy for the continent moving forward, and the only people it benefits is the colonial masters who realize that one of the richest countries the size of France, the Central African Republic, with only 4 mln people, but it's minerally rich in most of the mineral deposits, and the riches of that country have not been really tagged. So, it's a way, in my opinion, for the former colonial masters to move in, to set up governments that are plying with them, and that they can work to pull up those natural resources, that local leaders do not benefit the country in a way it could in order that the country can move forward.

- What is at heart of the conflict of the African nations?

- The conflict, I would say clearly, there you have the new Somalia, which is not far... The conflict in Somalia, people see it as a fail step in a very dangerous environment, but the conflict is centered around the tremendous oil that Chevron has found in Somalia, and since 1991 when Siad Barre was overthrown, the country has been in a chaos ever since. I'm giving you that as an example. The chaos in Sudan over Darfur is the issue of the tremendous resources that are in Darfur, and the former colonial masters who have given the country freedom and so forth since the early '60s, now have to find a way back into Africa because of the presence of the Chinese and their need for tremendous resources that are found in Africa, the former colonial masters have to find a way back in, and the way back in is the conflict on the continent that evidently the Africans can handle themselves, so it opens the door for the former European colonial masters to get back into Africa.

- Well, this leads into how can the conflict be resolved, or, rather, does the resolution require the participation and mediation of the international community?

- One I would like to say, and this is my personal observation, I've lived on the African continent for 12 years, I traveled to 44 of the 54 African nations. And my assessment after traveling and research is that someone like Muammar Gaddafi - at least, he had the money, the influence, the respect and the power - he helped resolve many of the conflicts that existed on the African continent. And most of the African leaders would give him a door opening, because he was an African. And he proved his concern with unifying the African continent to let the resources feed the masses of people that are suffering. If you travel through Africa right now, you see that there is a class distinction. There are very, very poor people. Then, there is a middle class. And there is an upper class, very wealthy people. And this is not healthy for the African continent. This is one of the challenges with the loss of a great leader like Nelson Mandela - will South Africa remain the power house of the African continent, or was he a stabilizing factor when he was alive, because this tremendous respect? Or would it break to clan society first, and then it moves to a racial problem in South Africa, with the nearly 6 mln white people who still live among the 50 mln black people? So, I'm just saying that the problem can be solved if you strengthen the African Union, where the Africans can meet at Addis Ababa and sit down, and say “Let us deal with the problems of Africa and the resources that we need for our armies, for our peacekeeping force, let the Western nations and those in the East who would help us give us the money, we have the capacity to solve our own problems, if you would give us a chance to do it.”

- The last question will be: how does the turbulent situation in the country affect neighboring African states?

- A very good question. It absolutely has an impact on all of these countries that are surrounding it. If you look at the Democratic Republic of Kongo, it is surrounded by, believe, 8 nations. Everyone of those, because of the conflict in the East, are affected by what happens in the Democratic Republic of Kongo – Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, you can go on, Sudan, the Central African Republic. Conflict within those countries, because of the refugees who will spill over the board, and even the internal displaced people, cases problems in the neighboring country. When the conflict was going on in Sudan, it affected Kenya tremendously. So, it affects these countries. And what we have to do is try to contain it so that it doesn't become the kind of problems that you see in Kenya with Somalia, that ended up in the tragic bombing. So, we have a responsibility, those that live on the continent, to make sure there is a conflict resolution and the well-being of the people, masses of people, should be our first interest, and not the corporations in the Western world, who want the capital, want the resources out of Africa even if the African people suffer.