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Troubled times for tyrants

April 23, 2011   ·   218983 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fsomalilandpress.com%2Ftroubled-times-for-tyrants-21898Troubled+times+for+tyrants2011-04-23+08%3A38%3A55Qalinle+Husseinhttp%3A%2F%2Fsomalilandpress.com%2F%3Fp%3D21898

In the African Union’s plush new headquarters in Addis Ababa there must be growing unease amongst the elite club of despots and tyrants. For all their bluff and bluster the continent’s kleptomaniacs and tin-pot dictators have much to fear from the changes sweeping through Africa. The days when they could act with impunity are fast disappearing and their actions and those of their cronies are being exposed like never before. Where once the Western and Soviet powers toyed now the fallout from Wikileaks revelations and social networks are doing the damage. Democracy is slowly beginning to make itself felt, triumphantly in a state such as Somaliland, but elsewhere the will of the people and the ballot box is still resisted. Postponed elections, ballot rigging and electoral fraud are routine, but there are nascent signs that the days of the demagogues and their military thugs are on the wane.

Opponents are proving to be far more resourceful too. Following the recent disputed election in Ivory Coast the incumbent, President Laurent Gbagbo retreated to his presidential residence. As Alassane Outtara’s forces tightened their grip on Abidjan they engaged an intelligent piece of psychological warfare when they order the film Downfall to be broadcast, the film being the dramatic story of Adolf Hitler’s delusional last few days in his Berlin bunker. With the defeated President Gbagbo supposedly holed up in a bunker in his official residence it was clear that the film was meant to symbolise – delusion, futility and defeat. Gbagbo when defeat finally came was to be seen sat looking both bewildered and unshaven, and in various photographs wearing a vest and a gaudy floral shirt. For many it was not so much his captured that surprised them it was the image of a crestfallen president in his underclothes that really embodied the fall from power. To his enemies the schadenfreude of such a scene was absolute nectar, something they will savour for years to come.

To those other leaders sitting nervously surrounded by ill gotten gains maybe they too can learn from what has happened in Ivory Coast. Having been in office for so long most of them have surely had enough time to prepare for their own fall from grace and think about the final images of them that will be captured for posterity. For some will exchange the gilded walk in wardrobes for the more sober surroundings of the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Like the unhinged Norma Desmond in the final scene of Sunset Boulevarde these despots need to be ready for cameras. For those tyrants not yet prepared what follows is some guidance on how to emerge with at least your dignity intact when you are finally forced to step down either as a result of an army mutiny, military defeat at the hands of one’s opponents or intervention (invariably military) from a foreign power.

1. Remember your mother’s advice and always wear clean underwear.
2. For dictators, even fallen ones, floral shirts are a fashion faux pas. As a rule it takes a person of integrity such as Nelson Mandela to get away with wearing one.
3. Your reading matter counts. Imagine the surprise of the world’s press if you emerged from your bunker holding E. F. Schumacher’s Small is Beautiful – a study of economics is if people really mattered.
4. Be ready to greet your captors and the accompanying press with a witty line, such as “What took you so long?” or “I say, is that sound of rocket propelled grenades outside or celebratory fireworks?”
5. A Saville Row suit is far more becoming than an ill-fitting shell suit.
6. A stoical expression and good manners invariably helps ease the situation.
7. Try not bemoan your fate. There is nothing quite so unbecoming as a fallen tyrant blaming everyone else but themselves.

Africa’s recent history is packed with limpet leaders determined to hold onto power no matter what the cost. Some were sober in their appearance such as Hastings Banda of Malawi in his trade mark dark suit, Homburg hat with fly whisk in hand, others such as Uganda’s Idi Amin are prone to endeavouring to outdo Soviet war heroes, by appearing festooned with absurd numbers of medals. The psychosis of power is such that these leaders begin to believe their own rhetoric and surrounded by self seeking sycophants no act is too outrageous. No student of African leadership can afford to ignore the case of Jean-Bedel Bokassa, the Head of State of the Central African Republic (CAR), who decided to proclaim himself emperor and in 1977 held a coronation in the style of Napoleon Bonaparte costing more than the CAR’s annual budget.

The likes of Bokassa, Mobutu Sese Seko and Robert Mugabe remind one of just how many kleptomaniacs have terrorised and looted Africa. It would certainly make for a fascinating project if some enterprising journalist or researcher could calculate the total amount of the ‘personal’ wealth of all the existing African Union leaders and their families – probably a figure that would be more than sufficient to feed, clothe and provide schooling and health care for every child in the continent. No number of private jets, Swiss bank accounts or London apartments will save these parasites from the judgement of history. They would do well to remember the words spoken by Maximus Decimus Meridius (played by Russell Crowe) in the film Gladiator “What we do in life echoes in eternity.”

By Mark T. Jones

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By Qalinle Hussein

Tags: Africa, Bokassa, Democracy, dictators, emperors, Mobutu Sese Seko