The Return of the Soldiers

Coup in Guinea Conakry, 2008

One of the most prominent features of postcolonial African politics has been the rule of soldiers (military rule). One of the ways in which military rule manifests itself is that soldiers simply take over the helm of state by force. Most African leaders, past and present, were/are soldiers who came to power by force and later regularized their stay by sometimes becoming civilian rulers. In fact, current African leaders such as Yuweri Museveni of Uganda, Paul Kagame of Rwanda, Omar el Bashir of Sudan, Muamar Gadafi of Libya, Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso, Denis Sassou Nguesso of the Republic of Congo, Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo, etc., came to power by force and later took off their military outfits for civilian ones. Nigeria was the most notorious case which recently appears to have turned the corner.

The second way in which military rule manifests itself is more subtle. In this case, rulers come to power as civilians but secure power using the military and the police to crush any opposition and subjugate the people. This is the case especially with Paul Biya of Cameroon and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.

With the clamor for democracy and multi-partyism in the 1990s, it was thought that rulers would begin to come to power through democratic means. But this has not been the case. By and large, military rule has continued in Africa, sometimes in its more blatant form, other times in its more subtle form. The most recent blatant cases have been those of Guinea Conakry, were soldiers took power by force after the death of President Lansana Conte (who came to power in 1984 through a military coup), and the recent overthrow of President Mamadou Tanja who had controversially amended the constitution to run for president again.

As usual, the international community condemned the coups but as usual nothing has changed. The BBC even whispered that France or the CIA may have had a hand in the overthrow of Mamadou Tanja. In the case of Niger, many even seem to have welcomed the coup. Some seem to suffer from the illusion that the military takeover may be good for democracy. But it must be seen for what it is: the mad grab for power which is characteristic of much African politics. Only this time, we are reverting to our former dark days. We should rather be looking for ways to end the militarization of politics in Africa.

For more on the coup in Niger, see: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8537043.stm