They Always Fall
Despotic African leaders have always fallen. The rejection
of Burkina Faso’s Blaise Campaore by his people is a proof that the norm is not
about to change. If anyone had told Campaore in January that he would kiss the
presidency goodbye before the end of the year, he would probably have had
grounds for disbelief.
Over the past few decades, quite a number of leaders have
fallen from their exalted positions. One of the leaders notorious for gross
misuse of power was Uganda’s Field Marshal Idi Amin Dada, the self acclaimed Conqueror of The British Empire. He held
Uganda with an iron hand and for years, he suppressed all opposition. He was
eventually overthrown in the course of the Uganda-Tanzania war.
He fled to Libya and later Saudi Arabia where he died in
2003.
A similar fate befell Mobutu Sese Seko, who ruled Democratic
Republic of Congo (Zaire) for more than 30 years. He led the overthrow of
Patrice Lumumba, Congo’s first democratically elected leader. Following Lumumba’s
execution by firing squad, Mobutu eventually took over and ran Congo like a
personal property until he was forced into exile when Laurent Kabila led an
insurrection against him. He went on exile to Morocco where he eventually died.
The Arab spring that took place after that led to the ouster
of leaders like Hosni Mubarak of Egypy and Ben Ali of Tunisia.
Some African leaders have however paid with their lives in
the course of trying to hang on. Liberia’s Samuel Doe was captured and killed
after he refused to take asylum in Nigeria. His naked and mutilated body was
paraded on the streets of Monrovia. Libya’s Muammar Ghadaffi too refused to
leave Libya. Rather, he chose to fight to the death in Sirte where he was born.
Like Doe, he too was captured and tortured before being executed. His half nude
body was kept in a meat freezer for days and was only buried after it started
to decompose.
The Rise of Campaore
Blaise Campaore came to power after overthrowing and killing
his bosom friend, Thomas Noel Sankara in October, 1987. He and Sankara met in a
military training school in Morocco in 1976. They became close after that and
they both played major roles in the overthrow of Saye Zerbo and Jean-Baptiste Ouedraogo.
It was generally agreed that Sankara’s undoing was that he
was leaning towards communism with his Marxist ideology with which he ruled the
country from 1983 to 1987. All that however changed as Campaore chose to have the
West as allies, running what he called a government of “rectification”.
Campaore founded the Congress for Democracy and Progress and
contested elections in 1991. He was the sole candidate as the November 1991 election
was boycotted by opposition parties. He won again in 1998, 2005 and 2010.
The Many Sins of
Campaore
Though Campaore described the killing of Sankara as an “accident”,
the circumstances surrounding it were never properly investigated. Till today,
it is a moral burden the ousted leader carries. His other major blunders
include his brutal clampdown on opposition in any form.
Barely two years into his government, two of his closest men,
Henri Zongo and Jean-Baptiste Lingani were arrested for plotting to overthrow the
government. They were tried and executed in September, 1989.
By 1991, Campaore strengthened his hold on power. Clement
Ouedraogo, a leader in the opposition was brutally murdered. A bomb was thrown
into his car on December 9 in the centre of Ouagadougou. He was an aide to
Campaore before he joined the opposition and became the Secretary-General of
the Labour Party. Not quite a week after that, Tall Moctar, another opposition
member was attacked by gunmen who sprayed his car with bullets.
Both attacks led to violent demonstrations in which
Burkinabes called for Campaore’s resignation.
The Beginning of the
Fall
It became obvious that things might fall apart in April, 2011
when mutineering soldiers went on rampage. It was only a matter of time before the
mutiny got to the presidential palace and most military b arracks. There was an
exchange of fire in the presidential compound on April 14, 2011 and Campaore
fled to his hometown Zinaire. The soldiers revolted over unpaid allowances.
In June 2014 Compaoré's party urged him to organize a
referendum that would allow him to alter the constitution in order to seek
re-election in 2015; otherwise he would be forced to step down having spent the
constitutionally stipulated number of terms as president.
On 30 October 2014 the National Assembly was scheduled to
debate an amendment to the constitution which would have enabled Compaoré to
stand for re-election as President in 2015. Burkinabes started a protest in the
course of which the assembly complex was set ablaze.
In a swift reaction, Compaoré dissolved the government and
declared a state of emergency. Before
the close of the day, General Honore Traore, of the Burkinabe Army announced
that a transitional government would be installed.
On October 31, Compaoré announced a power vacuum as he
confirmed his resignation. He fled to Cote d’Ivoire afterwards.
Though it is likely that whoever becomes president may call
for his extradition, Campaore was in the good books of France while his
leadership lasted. His roles in the enthronement of Charles Taylor, whom he
personally introduced to Muammar Ghadaffi might be overlooked. The reason is
that though he financed rebel movements in the past, he played roles in the
battle against terrorist groups that emerged in the Sahel region later. The
Western world has taken that as one of his good deeds.
Which African Leader
is Next?
Robert Mugabe, Yoweri Museveni and Paul Biya of Zimbabwe,
Uganda and Cameroon respectively are the longest serving leaders in Africa. And
as it seems, none of them is ready to leave office yet.
Under Mugabe’s watch, Zimbabwe’s economy took a downturn. Thanks
to strained relations with countries that could have helped.
He became Prime Minister and head of government in 1980 and
in 1987, he became Zimbabwe’s first democratically elected President. At 90,
Mugabe says Zimbabwe still needs him. He won his 7th term as
President in 2013.
Museveni who was actively involved in the 1979 overthrow of
Idi Amin and that of Milton Obote in 1985 is the only leader some people in
Uganda have ever known. He assumed
office in January 1986 and has been President since then. The Ugandan
constitution has been reviewed and now, there is no limit to the number of
terms a president can serve.
Paul Biya has served Cameroon as President since 1982 and
since then, he has consistently won elections.
Another leader believed to be towing the steps of the likes
of Biya and Museveni is President Yaya Jameh of Gambia. He took over in 1994 as
a young military officer. He was elected president two years later and
re-elected in 2001, 2006 and 2011.
With the recent uprising in Burkina Faso, it is believed
that the wave that changed the face of things in the Arab world might just be
on the way to the western, eastern and southern parts of Africa.
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