Soldiers, Strongmen straw men
‘Be bold; show no cowardice. Demonstrate strength, we are not going to fail; we shall win
-Anonymous
Military coup in Chad: Military Takeover in Mali, Military Seize Power in Guinea; Military Putsch in Sudan. Army Takeover in Niger.
It was George Santayana who is credited with the quote; “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. The above quotation has been repeated by countless history teachers in their effort to ensure their job. It’s all déjà vu (We’ve seen it all before). But the rapidity these last half a century is rather too alarming).
George added: “And those who do study the past are just as likely to make the same stupid mistake as those who do not.”
People or rather historians, differ about this. Theories abound about this: “History is not that a map of the past drawn from a particular point of view is to be useful to the modern traveler”. “History is the story of events with praise or blame”. “History is the study of all the world’s crimes”. “History is who we are and why we are the way we are”. Karl Marx is quoted as saying “If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how in capable man must be of learning from experience”.
So, do we say the Second World War came and so the Third World War would inevitably come? Hitler, Churchill, etc. – with the same personages, actors, leaders, weaponry, methods, scenarios, etc? Coming back home, would we say the Atlantic Slave Trade would re-emerge, children thrown to wild animals marks made by hot iron to identify owners? You will hardly believe this if you are a human being, not a being in the form of human.
Or think about the internecine wars of Ghana; Samori and Babatu; Anglo – Asante wars – too many to mention. Have you thought about the insatiable nature of human beings? – diverse and varied, depending on the individual and their circumstances; driven by emotions and impulses, rather than rational thinking; influenced by social norms and cultural values; unlimited wants and needs – for survival.
No sane democrat will wish a coup in his country. No, not at our present dispensation – in Africa. But what do we see around us? Niger, Burkina Faso, Guinea and the freshest, Gabon. The Military officers had seized power on Wednesday night and put Ali Bongo Ondimba the President under house arrest.
Who is to blame? No one? Is it the greed of the army? Is it the excesses of the President? A nation blessed with abundant oil and natural resources with a population of only 2.5m building or buying mansions. Living like Arabian Kings, whilst the majority wallow in poverty and eat out of garbage bins.
How can man be so wicked towards? With all the timber resources, manganese oil (the 5th largest producing oil in Africa) accounting for 50% of GDP and 80% of exports. Poverty, poverty, poverty gnaws at Gabon the headcount ratio is $2.15 a day. What is Ghana’s 3% and people save dollars in their beds!
When we all thought coups d’etat were becoming a thing of the past (after independence), there emerges one in Gabon. A month ago, it was Niger, and ECOWAS made a mess of themselves threatening war before negotiation. You should have spoken to the ordinary cobbler, pump assistant, foufou pounder, farm labourer before condemning the coup. We are not by any stretch of imagination justifying the coup. All that we are saying is listen to the ordinary labourer of the country.
2 U.S. Researchers, Jonathan Powell and Clayton Thyre have identified over 200 coups and coup attempts in Africa since the 1950s with half of them being successful.
You remembers Zimbabwe where in 2017 Robert Mugabe 37 years old rule toppled the government (not a coup they said) and brought in Maj. Gen SubisisoMoyo. Coup leaders tend to deny their action as a coup in order to enjoy legitimacy.
When in April 2021, after the Chadian leader IdrissAbass died, the Army installed his son as interim President. Despite his opponent calling it a “dynastic coup” the military said it was a transitional military council.
Popular uprising against long reigning dictators have provided the tangible excuse for the return of coups, and Sudan enjoys the unenviable position of having had most coups – 16. Hail Nigeria, why? The country which was notorious for coups after independence in 1960 (five) that had even led to a civil war has since 1999 seen no more coup.
But have the politicians learnt any lessons. Alhaji Tafewa Balwewaaid and Irensi are house hold names, in Ghana so is Yakubu Gowon. Can we forget Odumegwu Ojukwu who sought to separate Biafra from Nigeria?
Besides the Rwanda Pogrom, Biafra is one of the saddest story to tell in Africa. Known as the Nigerian – Biafran War, it started in July 1967 and ended in January 1970. Nigeria was supported by Egypt, United Kingdom, The Soviet Union, Poland, Czech, Israel, Ethiopia, OAU. Biafra was supported by France, China, Czech (before 1968), Israel (after 1968), Portugal, South Africa, Rhodesia, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Haiti, Tanzania, Zambia, United States retained its neutrality.
The two key opponents were Yakubu Gowon (Nigeria) and Odomegwu Ojukwu who sought independence from Nigeria for the Igbo ethnic group.
As many as 2,000,000 died of starvation as a result of the Nigerian naval blockade. Children! Innocent children! With the fall of Owerri to the Nigerians, the die was cast and Bifra had to succumb. Olusegun Obasanjo became President of the whole of Nigeria.
The other stories are too familiar to repeat here, but we remember Rawlings shooting 8 military officers calling those who had made it in life ‘economic saboteurs’; he openly put an embargo on Apino soap and was all too willing to receive Nigeria Abacha’s gift of $3m (if not $5m).Rawlings’ children are now well endowed (he was teaching his daughter how to pilot a plane and how to shoot a gun). What prayer do we pray to God? Now one of Rawlings’s his children is an MP – to make laws for Ghana.
Cato the Elder used the phrase ‘Carthagodelendaest’ ‘Carthage must be destroyed’, to end all his speeches. But unlike Cato the Elder, his son-in-law Scipio Africanus would end his speech. ‘Carthagoservandaest’ (Carthage must be saved). Of course, Cato won the debate and the peace treaty signed enjoined carthage never to a war without the express sanction of Rome.
No one is beating the war drums. Writers report what they see and read intelligence reports; they link man to man prophets and soothsayers predict the future; they are God’s links to His people.
We should not play with fire. We must be strategic. Let us quench the fire before it burns us. History need not to repeat itself.
AfricanusOwusu-Ansah
Email: africanusoa@gmail.com