Tuesday, 16 April 2019 / 06.04AM / OpEd By Reuben Abati
Young people are leading a people’s revolution in Algeria and Sudan, both developments remind us forcefully of the wages of mis-governance, the power of the people to seize control of their own destiny, and the role that the youth can play in a country’s development process. It is encouraging to see that in both countries, we are witnessing the triumph of the people’s will. In Algeria and Sudan, it is Arab Spring (or Winter?) all over, with the people saying No to Repression, No to Dictatorship, No to the abuse of power.
The
ordinary people are the heroes in both emerging revolutions- the villains are
the members of the ruling elite, those the Algerians refer to as “le pouvoir”
(that is the powerful) who have suppressed and alienated the people for decades.
Algerians want a complete change of system, a break from the past. The people
of Sudan are similarly asking for a new order. These courageous young men and
women, who have since been joined at the barricades by professionals and in Algeria,
by the military, are determined to stand firm until they have their way. They
refuse to be cajoled. They do not want half-measures. They know what they want
and they have been very peaceful in making their demands. They are no longer
afraid. They are on the streets. They are on social media. The power of the
youth in full expression, can be loud and overwhelming.
In
Algeria, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the 82-year old who has been the absolute
dictator in charge of Algeria since 1999 and a member of the ruling establishment
since independence from France in 1962, has been pushed out by the protests.
Bouteflika’s reign of terror was marked by corruption, cronyism and repression.
In 2010/2011, he survived the Arab Spring that swept through North Africa and
the Middle East resulting in political crisis and regime change in Tunisia,
Egypt, Yemen, and Syria. But he could not survive weeks of protests by the
Algerian people this time around. Bouteflika had used every trick in the books
to remain in power. Since he suffered stroke in 2013, he had been rarely seen
in public, choosing to run the country through a selected group of family
members and political associates. Still he wanted a fifth term in office. The
people refused.
In
February, he tried to introduce cosmetic changes with the promise that there
would be a national conference. The people took to the streets. They no longer
trusted him. They just wanted him to go. He eventually abandoned his fifth term
ambition. Even that was not enough for the people. They waved the Algerian flag
on the streets, and spoke their minds with unusual boldness. Many of these
young Algerians who have become revolutionaries have not known any other
President in their lives. But they have seen the corruption of the Algerian
elite and they were determined to register their protest.
A
descent into chaos seemed imminent until Army Chief General Ahmed Gaid Salah
intervened and asked that the best way forward would be to invoke Article 102
of the Algerian Constitution, and thereby move the country forward within the
Constitutional Framework. Article 102 requires the Algerian President to step
down in the event of his incapacitation, and with his exit, the leader of the
Upper Chamber of parliament would assume office as President in an acting
capacity and conduct fresh election within 90 days. Bouteflika, Africa’s oldest
President has since resigned, his vanity project of building the Great Mosque
of Algiers remains uncompleted. His successor, Abdelkader Bensalah, the former
leader of parliament has promised that he will organize elections on July 4 and
respect the people’s will. But the Algerian revolutionists have refused to stop
the protests. They don’t just want Bouteflika out of the way, they want the
entire system that he represents and all his cronies that he has placed in
strategic positions in both government and business out of the way. They are
putting pressure on Bensalah.
In
both Algeria and Sudan, we have not only seen the people- the youth - fighting
for themselves, rejecting years of misrule and graft – we have also seen the
military establishment turning against the government. In Algeria however, the
military helped to facilitate the process of change. In Sudan, we have the
military subverting it – that is a key difference between both countries. In
Algeria, the military queued up behind the people to defend the Constitution.
In Sudan, the military capitalized on the people’s protest to seize power,
suspend the Constitution and impose a state of emergency on the country. But
one lesson from both countries is that it may be unwise to under-estimate the
people’s resolve. When a revolution begins, especially one arising from
disenchantment with prices and living conditions, it may be difficult to
predict when and how it will end. This explains why in Sudan there have been
three Presidents in two weeks. Four-month protests over rising prices of fuel
and bread ended surprisingly in the removal of Omar Al-Bashir from office.
Al-Bashir like Algeria’s Bouteflika, is a veteran dictator. Most of the young
people who are leading the protests in Sudan were not yet born when al-Bashir
seized power in Sudan 30 years ago. The military may have taken advantage of
the people’s protests but the youths of Sudan insist that the military is
unacceptable because that is not the change they want. General Ahmed Ibn Auf
has had to step down. He fell within 24 hours! The new General, Abdel Fattah
al-Bashan may also not survive in the face of the people’s anger even if he has
taken the step of sacking and detaining more members of the disgraced al-Bashir
government, and appears ready to negotiate a civilian-led transition. Omar
al-Bashir ran a military government in practically every regard. His reign was
marked by state-sponsored terror, autocracy, war and genocide.
The
military council in Sudan has declared that it has no intention of handing him over
to the International Criminal Court (ICC) where he is wanted for war crimes and
crimes against humanity, thus confirming the suspicion that the new caretakers
in Khartoum are a clone of the al-Bashir government. The politics of the ICC
notwithstanding, Omar al-Bashir should be made to answer for his crimes,
against the people of Darfur and the people of Sudan in general. It is not
enough to keep him in “a safe place.”
These
recent developments in Algeria and Sudan, and perhaps Kazakhstan should be a
warning sign to all sit-tight leaders and those leaders who take the people for
granted. Kazakhstan’s Nursultan Nazarbayev is probably the smartest of the
three dictators. Faced with protests by the people, Nazarbayev quickly stepped
aside in March, to make way, he claims, for “a new generation of leaders.” He
manages to retain control of his country’s Security Council. He has also created
a cult of personality around himself with a pompous, self-styled title of “Leader
of the nation.” The capital of Kazakhstan has also been named after him by
Parliament. It doesn’t matter as his own day of reckoning would still come.
Across
the globe, there is a growing new wave of fascination with the ideas of
democracy and people power, especially among the youth. It must be considered a
positive thing that the youths of Africa are part of this trend. Africa has its
fair share of dictators and sit-tight leaders. It took sustained international
outrage to get Joseph Kabila to relinquish power in the Democratic Republic of
Congo. He is now Senator for life! In
Equitorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang Mbasogo and his children are sitting atop the
country’s wealth; the old man has no plan to leave power anytime soon. In
Uganda, Yoweri Museveni is effectively a President for life. But all autocrats
should contemplate and learn from the fate of Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Yahya
Jammeh of The Gambia, and now Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria and Omar
al-Bashir of Sudan. No matter how long it takes, the people usually win in the
end.
It
is one thing, however, to get rid of the strong man of power, it is another to
maintain or achieve national stability. Dictators may be removed or they may
die or they may be incapacitated, but after their exit, they tend to retain
something of the country’s DNA in their hold. This is the sad story of Cote
d’Ivoire after Houphouet-Boigny, Libya after Muammar Ghadaffi, Iraq after
Saddam Hussein, Venezuela after Hugo Chavez. The rest of the world must therefore
keep an eye on the developing scenarios in Algeria and Sudan. It is the
people’s will that must prevail in the end, not the will of military usurpers
or the clones of the ousted autocrats.
Previous Posts by Dr. Reuben Abati
1.
The Obasanjo Bombshell - Abati
2.
Ogun 2019
Politics And Deployment Of Violence - My Encounter, Reuben Abati
3.
Chief Anthony
Anenih: A Personal And Political Portrait
4.
The “Oshiomhole Must Go” Coalition
5.
Beyond Fayose: The Future Of Ekiti State
6.
The “Spirit Of Error” In Nigerian Politics
7.
Atiku And The
Rise Of Peter Obi
9.
Nigeria’s
Certificate Scandals
11. A Brief Manual
Of Nigerian Politics – Beyond 2019 Soundbites
12. Buhari, 2019
Elections and the Law
13. Rule Of Law: The
President Got It Wrong
14. Dauragate As A
Metaphor For Governance In Nigeria
15. Understanding
The Crisis Of Defections and APC’s Response
17. Dasuki’s Bail,
The Attorney General and Commitment To The Rule Of Law
18. Hadi Sirika And
The Return Of Nigeria Airways
19. Minister Kemi
Adeosun’s NYSC Certificate
20. The Adebayo
Adedeji Example
21. In Defence Of
The Fulani In Our Midst
22. Ten Years After
Lamidi Adedibu
23. Super Eagles And
Marcus The Pig At The World Cup
24. “Just Do Good”:
A June 12 Story
25. Buhari And The
June 12 Saga
27. The Impending
Implosion Of APC
28. 2019 And The
Politics Of Campaign Finance
29. #Elections2019:
Nigeria’s Emerging Political Leaders
30. Mission:
Impossible - Buhari’s Impeachment
31. Where Is The
Nigerian Opposition?
32. Nigeria, ECOWAS
and the Morocco Question
33. The Kigali AU
Summit: Nigeria’s Diplomatic Blunder
34. Lagos State And
The Politics Of Taxation
35. Africa: A
Continent Without Democrats
36. Dapchi 110: The
tragedy Of A Nation
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