Italians believe that even among equals, there are those who will always be greater than others.

The word equality can easily be found in the dictionary than in real life. Even when presidents, kings and ministers get together, there are those who will appear superior to their colleagues.

Colonel Muamar al-Gaddafi the great leader of Libya has more often than not tried to show that Africa is his small village, where he can say anything and set rules anywhere at any time.

At the recent African Union summit, the leader of the Libyan Jamahiriya caused a stir when he slapped one of his bodyguards to the surprise of his fellow Heads of State.

As if this was not enough his own presidential guard flexed muscles with the Ugandan presidential guard as they wanted to take control of the place where other Heads of State were.

It is common sense that the hosting country provides security for all visiting heads of state.

But Gaddafi's perceived military might and wealth which he has invested in many parts of Africa makes him feel that he owns Africa.

Gaddafi's fears of putting his safety in the hands of other security forces than his own are understandable.

In 1978 Imam Musa al-Sadr, the Shia leader of Amal movement a Lebanese freedom movement departed to meet government officials in Libya.

Since then he and his colleagues have never been heard of again. The Lebanese up to now still believe that Gaddafi must have had a hand in the disappearance of their leader.

In 2008 when he was officiating at the inauguration of the magnificent Muamar Gaddafi National Mosque in Kampala - named after him for he fully financed its construction.

The Libyan leader had the audacity to attack Christians in front of his host President Yoweri Museveni ironically who is a Christian and his wife is a staunch born again Christian.

Colonel Gaddafi is a man of very many controversies; last year he was at it again.

He proposed that Nigeria be divided into two countries; one for the Moslems and the other for the Christians saying the differences between the Moslems and Christians in the country were unbridgeable.

The statement did not go down well with Nigerian authorities who immediately expelled the Libyan ambassador in Lagos on of making statements that cast further doubt on the vision of the man who has vigorously campaigned to Unite Africa and with the vision of becoming its first president.

After failing to convince his fellow presidents to embrace his United States of Africa project, Gaddafi switched to courting the African traditional leaders and ironically crowned himself the king of kings.

But for a man who overthrew King Idris in Libya in 1969 and went ahead to ban the monarchy, the royal touch surprised many.

But the world has seen more Gaddafi than the Libyan leader may be able to realise. Going back 200 years ago, the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte in France ushered in similar events through their expansionist policies.

As students of history can tell you, Napoleon succeeded in bringing Europe under his firm grip through wars.

For a man who once declared that a state without religion is like a ship without a campus surprised the world when he imprisoned the Pope.

In the 1930s Adolf Hitler with little success tried to turn the world into his small village.

In this process thousands of Jews were sent to their creator and the world got into a serious war whose effects are still felt up to date in Japan's towns of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. blog comments powered by Disqus

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