Not long ago, children hardly out of puberty were throwing stones and shouting slogans as their clenched fists punched the air in Eswatini, signalling a bottled-up yearning for freedom and development.
While to those in the kingdom this symbolised a yearning for freedom and development, elsewhere this was another African state about to unravel. A potential market for arms manufacturers.
Allow me to look back at the last few weeks.
This week, a handful of people were killed in Kampala, Uganda, in what is considered the western world’s bulwark against terror cells in Africa. Three bombs in quick succession saw a few buried in shards, tens seriously injured and parliamentarians running for cover as Islamic State claimed responsibility. President Yoweri Museveni, who controversially stole elections early this year, unleashing his own brand of terror against Bobby Wine and his supporters, shutting the internet, has now remained uncharacteristically reticent.
In Sudan, Reuters reported a massacre of at least 15 across Khartoum, Bahri and Omdurman, as Africans protested against an October 25 coup in which Abdalla Hamdok was toppled. The slogans abounded: “Legitimacy comes from the street, not from the cannons” and “The people are stronger, and retreat is impossible”. It is estimated the military commanders have killed up to 39 people since taking power by force, placing Hamdok under house arrest. The latter came to power after a rebellion against Omar al-Bashir, who was overthrown in 2019. General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the military leader behind the coup, said force was necessary to avoid a possible civil war. No surprises.
In Mali, president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was forcefully removed from power in August 2020 by a group that promised to conduct elections in February next year. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) recently imposed sanctions against coup leaders, after they said they would no longer be able to meet their commitment. Again, very lame and unsurprising?
As nations of the world seek to advance, Africa is still dealing with governance challenges of yonder. Many remain tied to their former colonisers.
Guinea’s president Alpha Conde was also recently removed after a putsch in September. Coup leader and interim president Mamadi Doumouya, who promised to produce a road map to democracy, is yet to indicate when such a road map will become public. The question is, when will it be drafted, let alone released.
It is the same sob story in Mali.
Since the toppling of Muammar Gaddafi about 10 years ago, Libya is only recently starting to know some semblance of peace, with an election due next month.
The problems in Mozambique, a popular tourism destination for many South Africans, are known. In Ethiopia, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is fighting what seems a losing battle, recently asking ordinary people to take up arms against an advancing rebel group, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front.
The guns in Africa are anything but silent.
As nations of the world seek to advance, Africa is still dealing with governance challenges. Many remain tied to their former colonisers.
Yet president Julius Nyerere warned at the close of the Organisation of African Unity in 1966: “It is really up to Africa to be truly independent or to remain colonies of France and Britain.”
Armed conflict in Africa doesn’t happen in and of itself. And neither is it something new. The US, for example, sponsored the killing, through the CIA, of Patrice Lumumba in 1961 because he was making pan-African noises. Africa’s minerals have been more of a curse than a blessing. France remains a central feature of conflict.
But with all the gun fire all over the continent, Africa seems at a loss on what to do to end the wars and keep the peace. There is a palpable leadership void in Africa today.
But with all the gunfire all over the continent, Africa seems at a loss on what to do to end the wars and keep the peace. There is a palpable leadership void in Africa today.
The ineffectiveness of the AU has been well documented. All it has done, until recently, is release statements condemning those who resort to violence. Of late, even the statements don’t come out. And this doesn’t make the paucity of leadership less obvious.
Asian countries may have many challenges, but their focus on their economies is not only clear, it is consistent. In Europe, there might be divisions and simmering tensions between Belarus and its Baltic neighbours (Poland, Latvia, Lithuania) over migration and a fraught military and humanitarian crisis as thousands seek to cross borders. Yet the EU persists with its pro-Europe agenda.
In Africa, the current coup and leadership void makes a mockery of Agenda 2063, which envisages an Africa whose guns are silent, an Africa with high-speed train networks enabling mobility, an Africa that doesn’t just export raw materials but infuses value in its ore, an innovative continent with its own data networks with open, digital, distance learning universities to overcome a lack of physical structures.
This is an Africa we all want, but an Africa that seems ever elusive because, with each passing week, we hear bombs going off in Kampala, the military forcefully taking over power in Mali, Sudan and Guinea. African children are forced to be activists too early in their lives, when they should be learning, so we can compete with other nations in years to come. May we all collectively help silence the guns so Africa can be.
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