Having overwhelmed the hated Egytian police force in their call for the ouster of Mubarak, Mubarak sent in the army, perhaps believing that the army would overwhelm the people and so bring the demonstrations under control. Tanks were brought onto the streets of Cairo, Alexandria, Suez, among other cities. When the tanks came I thought that would be the end of the demonstrations. My experience in Cameroon during the early 1990s when I was in the Unviversity of Yaounde taught me that soldiers only kill, injure and humiliate people when they are called to control a demonstration. But what I saw in Egypt was different. Civilians were talking freely with the soldiers. Young men and old ladies were kissing the soldiers as their tanks sat by. In fact, a child even sat on one of the tanks and the soldiers asked the people to demonstrate peacefully, noting that they were there to protect the people from those who would want to take advantage of the chaos to commit crimes. This was an army that knew that its purpose was to protect the people rather than injure or humiliate them. The Cameroon army would do well to learn this very important lesson. Soldiers should not be against the people; they should rather protect the people. If the demands of the demonstrators in Egypt succeed, it would in part be because the soldiers understood that the people are their brothers and sisters. The soldiers knew that the destiny of their country is far more important than the lust for power of one dictator. When next Paul Biya sends the soldiers or gerdames to injure the people in order to protect his lust for power, they should do well to remember this lesson. In fact, it will be important for soldiers all over Africa to learn this lesson. They are there to protect the people rather than kill or injure them.
2 comments:
I find it refreshing to hear a story about soldiers who work along side civilians to ensure a peaceful protest. Having the soldiers there to protect them in their efforts instead of cause more problems is something that needs to be more televised and made aware to the general public. For most Americans all they think about is soldiers who are corrupt and hurt the public instead of help them. This story would aid in enlightening people about what good goes on in Africa between soldiers and civilians and begin to change paradigms of these interactions (AE)
I agree that it is very good to hear about soldiers who are in place to promote peace and protect the people when so often soldiers can be the ones causing the violence to escalate. It must be a relief for the Egyptian people to know that even though the soldiers are under the command of the President, they have been given orders to help ensure peace and not to add to the violence. I wonder what revolts or protests in other African nations might have become if the soldiers involved had worked to ensure peace instead of using violence as crowd control. It will be interesting to see if Egypt continues in its current path of relatively peaceful protests.
Post a Comment