by Guy Arnold
On 12 April 1980 a group of soldiers led by Master Sgt Samuel K. Doe stormed the Executive Mansion in Monrovia and killed President William R. Tolbert of Liberia. Doe, who later promoted himself to General, became Chairman of the People’s Redemption Council (PRC), which suspended the constitution and all political parties. Although for a time the PRC governed in conjunction with a 17-man council drawn from former political parties, in July 1981 full military rule was inaugurated. Prior to this, the government had doubled army and civil service pay and carried out much-publicized executions by firing squad of 13 leading members of the previous regime. The decade witnessed a steady deterioration of public life in Liberia including mounting corruption, political unease and increasingly arbitrary rule. Having promised a return to civilian rule by 1985, Doe allowed elections to be held that year although amidst widespread allegations of fraud and malpractices and in October, after a two-week delay, it was announced that Doe had won 50.9 per cent of the presidential vote and his National Democratic Party of Liberia (NDPL) 21 of 26 seats in the Senate and 51 of 64 seats in the House of Representatives. The opposition refused to take their seats. On 12 November, the exiled Brig.-Gen. Quiwonkpa re-entered the country to mount a coup but was killed by troops loyal to Doe. In the heavy fighting that took place between 600 and 1,500 people were killed. From 1985 to 1990 troubles mounted for Doe who had not achieved international respectability, frequently changed his ministers while the economy collapsed amid allegations of corruption. A coup attempt in December 1989 failed and hundreds of Liberians then fled to Côte d’Ivoire. In January 1990 a regional revolt in the north-east of the country heralded a decade of civil war.
In the presidential and legislative elections of 1979, President Moussa Traoré of Mali was returned for a further term with 99 per cent of the votes. A period of unrest followed and lasted to 1982 when further elections were held for the assembly, still on a single-party list. During 1983/84 Mali, like other Sahel countries, suffered from drought and had to depend upon famine relief from abroad. In fresh presidential elections of 1985 Traoré as sole candidate obtained 98 per cent of the vote. He then distanced himself from day-to-day politics and in 1986 recreated the post of Prime Minister and relinquished the portfolio of Defence. However, he soon moved back centre stage and resumed the portfolios of Prime Minister and Defence once more. The economy was stagnating and the government was obliged to adopt World Bank/IMF reforms – partial privatization to attract foreign investment. Further economic reforms were backed by France, as well as the World Bank and IMF; these covered trade, investment regulations, the grain market and the banking system. In 1990 Traoré was obliged to make concessions to growing demands for greater political freedom and in April the ruling Union Démocratique du Peuple Malien (UDPM) agreed to allow non-party leaders to speak freely and also allowed four new journals to be published. On 26 March 1991 Traoré’s government was overthrown by the military after two months in which pro-democracy demonstrations had met violent repression and up to 150 people had been killed. The coup was widely welcomed. A National Reconciliation Council headed by Lt-Col. Amadou Traoré was set up. In April a transitional government was formed and the UDPM was dissolved. Local and legislative elections were held in January 1992 and presidential elections in April when Alpha Oumar Konaré, the Secretary-General of the Alliance pour la Démocratie au Mali (ADEMA) became the first president to be elected in a multiparty system since independence.
Mauritania had renounced its claims to Western Sahara in 1979 allowing the government to deal more adequately with the country’s internal problems. In 1980, the then Prime Minister Lt-Col. Mohamed Khouma Haidalla announced the abolition of slavery in the country where an estimated 100,000 slaves still existed even if technically they could free themselves. In January 1980 Haidalla replaced Mohamed Louly as president. There were coup attempts against Haidalla in March 1981 and February 1982. Then on 12 December 1984, when he was attending a meeting in Burundi, Haidalla was deposed in a bloodless coup by prime minister Lt-Col. Maawiya Ould Sid’Ahmed Taya. In 1985 Taya implemented Western market economic reforms in the hope of attracting finance from the World Bank and Western donors. It was a troubled decade for Mauritania. There was black resentment at the programme of Arabicization and this exploded in riots and civil unrest during October 1986 in Nouakchott and Nouadhibou, the two principal cities, and an ‘Oppressed Black African Manifesto’ was issued. In response the government emphasized the Islamic rather than the Arab nature of Mauritanian society. A coup plot that was uncovered in 1987 was ethnically based and highlighted the tensions that existed between the dominant Moors and the blacks. In January 1990 Arabic was made official for all government business. The return of 200,000 refugees from Senegal put increased strains on the economy: clashes between the Senegalese and the substantial Mauritanian immigrant population in northern Senegal had erupted as a result of worsening economic conditions in that country.
Libyan involvement in Niger’s neighbour Chad through the 1980s led Niger to seek closer relations with Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco, and the need for allies increased when Gaddafi accused the Niger government of persecuting the Tuaregs. Slow moves towards a more constitutional form of government included village council elections in 1983 that were intended to lead to choosing regional councils. There was an abortive coup attempt against President Seyni Kountché in 1983. During 1984/85 Niger suffered from drought and conditions were made worse when Nigeria closed their joint border. In May 1987 the government adopted a draft ‘national charter’ that provided for non-elective consultative institutions at national and local levels. After a year of ill health President Kountché died in Paris in November 1987 and his Chief of Staff Col. Ali Saibou became head of state. He adopted a more open style of government and appealed to exiled Nigeriens to return home, and announced an amnesty for all political prisoners. He instructed the Conseil National de Développement (CND) to draft a new constitution and he then lifted the ban on political organizations and formed a new ruling party, the Mouvement National pour une Société de Développement (MNSD). He also increased the number of military personnel in the council of ministers. By 1989 Saibou appeared to be widely popular and on 24 September a new constitution was approved by referendum with 99.28 per cent of the votes cast. An election was held for the 93-seat assembly. Disillusionment followed when the limited nature of the democratization process became apparent and during 1990 strikes and demonstrations led to violence while professional and government employees demanded pay increases. Saibou bowed to popular pressure and legalized political pluralism leading three underground parties to emerge into the open. Saibou faced one of the oldest political problems: offer a little democracy and more will at once be demanded. In November 1990 there was a general strike and the unrest continued into 1991 until on 29 July a national conference of Niger was convened. This bypassed attempts by Saibou to maintain control, for the delegates proclaimed the conference to be sovereign. They elected their own president, the historian André Salifou. The conference sat until 3 November and set a date for multiparty elections in 1993.
By 1980 political reform in Senegal was overdue when President Sedhor Senghor announced his retirement. In January 1981 Abdou Diouf, whom Senghor had been grooming for top office, became President. He lifted restrictions on political activities and launched an anti-corruption drive. Diouf won the elections of 1983 convincingly and subsequently strengthened his position by dismissing some of the ruling Parti Socialiste (PS) power brokers. In 1985 the opposition Parti Démocratique Senegalais (PDS) of Abdoulaye Wade joined with other parties to create the Alliance Démocratique Senegalaise (ADS) under the leadership of Abdoulaye Bathily: both he and Wade were then arrested for unlawful demonstrations. Opposition to Diouf mounted as it became clear that he was opposed to electoral reforms. The presidential and legislative elections of 1988 resulted in violence, although Diouf again won decisively. Under a subsequent state of emergency opposition leaders were arrested and tried on charges o
f inciting violence. Political unrest lasted into 1989 and then at an extraordinary congress of the Parti Socialiste in March Diouf announced the establishment of an executive committee in the PS to reform the electoral code and draft a ‘national democratic charter’. Senegal under Diouf was feeling its way warily towards a more open system of government.
In Sierra Leone during the first half of the 1980s, under Siaka Stevens, there was a steady deterioration of the economy, growing corruption in both national and local government and agitation for Stevens to step down. Stevens promised to step down in May 1982 after a new house of representatives had been elected, although in fact he formed a new government. Political violence and rioting occurred in 1983 and 1984 as well as strikes by teachers and council workers in 1984 and 1985. In the latter year Stevens announced his choice of successor, the head of the armed forces, Maj.-Gen. Joseph Saida Momoh, and following endorsement by the All-People’s Congress (APC) party convention and a presidential election in October Momoh became President in November 1985. Momoh enjoyed a short period of popularity but was soon under attack for his inability to solve the country’s economic problems. In January 1987 student demonstrations led to the closure of three universities; in March a coup attempt was followed by a number of arrests and the discovery of a large cache of arms. By April 1989, when Sierra Leone celebrated 28 years of independence, the country was in apparently permanent economic crisis: its refineries only operated at 40 per cent capacity for lack of oil to process while its diamonds and gold were regularly smuggled out of the country instead of providing revenue for the government. In 1990 the devaluation of the leone created a price spiral although determined efforts by the government to halt the economic decline at least produced a substantial aid packet from the European Community. Momoh, however, set his face against a return to multiparty politics. By the end of 1990 the country faced a new problem as an increasing flow of refugees from the civil war in Liberia crossed into Sierra Leone, foreshadowing a decade that would see Sierra Leone descend into a civil war of its own.
President Etienne Eyadéma of Togo had come to power by coup in 1967 and in 1969 had formed a single party, the Rassemblement du Peuple Togolais (RPT). Still in power in 1979, Eyadéma allowed the RPT to draw up a new constitution which provided for an elective presidential system and national assembly. On 30 December 1979 Eyadéma was elected President with nearly 100 per cent of the votes cast. In January 1980 Eyadéma proclaimed the ‘Third Republic’ and announced amnesties. Despite his new constitution, however, Eyadéma maintained tight political controls and did not allow opposition to surface. During the first half of the decade Eyadéma appeared more confident of his position and though close to being a dictator in real terms, he operated a relatively open and successful economic policy.
The elections of March 1985 were open to more than one candidate so that 216 RPT candidates contested 77 seats. However, bomb outrages in Lomé during August 1985 led to a crisis and subsequent wave of repression and in November the government accused Ghana of complicity in the bomb outrages, while accusations of torture were levelled at the government. Pressures for greater political freedom grew in the latter 1980s and in September 1987 a ‘terrorist commando unit’ attempted to carry out a coup and tried to seize the Lomé military barracks (which was the home of the President). The government accused both Ghana and Burkina Faso of complicity in the coup attempt and the border with Ghana was closed. In order to safeguard Eyadéma France sent 250 paratroopers to Togo – according to the terms of a secret agreement – and Zaïre also sent 350 troops. French concern was perhaps heightened since in November Lomé provided the setting for the Franco-African summit. In December Eyadéma was re-elected President with 99.95 per cent of the votes cast. In 1989 Eyadéma carried out an anti-corruption drive and a number of senior government figures were dismissed. Increased demands for greater democracy were made through 1990 and in elections to the assembly several independents were returned. Anti-government demonstrations took place in October against a background of a sharp deterioration in economic conditions as coffee and cocoa prices fell.
A clear pattern emerges from the events that recurred with almost monotonous regularity in most of these West African countries. They had small if not tiny economies in world terms and these were constantly in trouble since they were dependent on the one hand upon commodity exports and had little control over prices while on the other they had, by the 1980s, become both heavily indebted and reliant upon aid. Those countries that had opted for a socialist development path almost always found that they had to revert to the Western capitalist way and invoke the aid of the World Bank and IMF in order to survive. On the political front the majority of the rulers were extremely authoritarian if not downright dictators and they used every possible stratagem to hold onto power while conceding as little as possible to the demands of their people for greater democracy. When genuine, as opposed to rhetorical, revolutionaries appeared in the persons of Rawlings in Ghana and Sankara in Burkina Faso they were both resented and feared by their neighbours who saw their ideas of ‘people power’ threatening their positions. Finally, the weapon of the coup had become entrenched. During the decade there were 11 successful coups and 19 attempted coups (though there were almost certainly more that were planned and then abandoned) apart from major disturbances. Upper Volta/Burkina Faso experienced no fewer than four coups, Nigeria two, while both The Gambia and Mauritania faced three coup attempts each. Although not remarked upon at the time as much as it deserved, the constant demands for greater democracy and the readiness of dissidents to face imprisonment or worse at the hands of repressive regimes gave the lie to claims that were too readily made in the West that Africa and Africans did not understand or want democracy.
CHAPTER TWENTY - EIGHT
East and Equatorial Africa
The great swathe of East and Equatorial African countries that stretch across the continent from Zanzibar on the Indian Ocean to Equatorial Guinea on the Atlantic includes Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda; Burundi and Rwanda; Central African Republic and Chad; the Republic of Congo, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea; and Zaïre (later, the Democratic Republic of Congo). Through the 1980s they faced similar problems: declining economic conditions and growing debts; civil disturbances and wars; dictatorial leaders and their supporting elites fighting to retain power and keep at bay the people’s demands for democracy; and the insidious organizing pressures of aid donors and non-government organizations, the former colonial powers and the United States, whose objective – always – was to maintain a controlling influence.
EAST AFRICA: KENYA, TANZANIA AND UGANDA
By 1980, the honeymoon, which President Daniel arap Moi had enjoyed with the Kenyan people since he succeeded Jomo Kenyatta in 1978, had worn off and criticism, both in the national assembly and from students, was increasing sharply. Oginga Odinga, whom Moi had tried unsuccessfully to attract back into the KANU fold, had launched an attack upon land grabbing, and during 1981 there were increasing disputes among government supporters. Moi lacked the charisma of his predecessor: a Tugen from the minority Kalenjin group, his political career had begun in 1955 when the British appointed him to the legislative council. Thereafter, he had been the deputy leader of KADU until it disbanded itself to join the ruling KANU at the end of 1964; he had served Kenyatta faithfully as Minister of Home Affairs and then as Vice-President from 1966 to 1978. On becoming president he had employed the catchword ‘Nyayo’ – footsteps – to indicate that he would follow the path laid down by Kenyatta. He then launched an anti-corruption campaign and worked to lessen Kikuyu political dominance. On 1 August 1982 the air force mounted a coup in Nairobi and seized key points in the city, which they held for a day until the army and the general service unit (GSU) regained control. Officially only 159 people were killed though the number of deaths was much higher; some 2,000 air force personnel and 1,000 civilians were detained. The coup leaders claimed that corruption and restrictions on freedom were the reasons for their a
ction. Twelve airmen and the two leaders who had fled to Tanzania, and were later repatriated to stand trial, were sentenced to death. By 1983 Moi saw Charles Njonjo, the influential Attorney-General and ‘kingmaker’ of 1978 who had ensured Moi’s succession to Kenyatta, as over-powerful and set about destroying him. He was accused of being a ‘stooge’ of a foreign power working to replace Moi and was publicly disgraced. A commission of inquiry sat for a year taking evidence that was largely circumstantial and inconclusive; then Moi ‘pardoned’ Njonjo although his political and public career was at an end.