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African
leaders show there are many countries for old men
David Smith, The Guardian (UK)
February 28, 2010
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/28/african-leaders-countries-old-men
Let them eat cake. That is one of the likely headlines
after an all-night birthday gala for Robert Mugabe, the autocratic
president of Zimbabwe, which was due to finish in the early hours
of yesterday. Mugabe, who last week turned 86 in a country where
average life expectancy stands at 45, is the eldest statesman on
a continent where age is seldom a barrier to power.
But events confronting both Nigerians and Nigeriens
in the past week have demonstrated that the next generation of African
leaders might find it somewhat harder to crush all comers.
President Mamadou Tandja of Niger, who had rewritten
the constitution rather than quit when his term expired, paid the
penalty when soldiers stormed the presidential palace and spirited
him away in a military coup. Diplomats were ambivalent about whether
to condemn the means or praise the ends.
President Umaru Yar'Adua of Nigeria, who created
a power vacuum when he disappeared in November for medical treatment
in Saudi Arabia, returned at dead of night to a country where politicians,
lawyers, media and ordinary citizens have made their demands for
accountability and transparency clear. Yar'Adua's deputy, Goodluck
Jonathan, remains at the helm while questions linger over the president's
health.
In recent times, the objections raised to the likes
of Menzies Campbell and John McCain in recent British and American
election campaigns rarely keep politicians awake here.
Africa's club of leaders of pensionable age includes
Egypt's Hosni Mubarak, 81, Cameroon's Paul Biya, 77, Zine al-Abidine
Ben Ali of Tunisia, 73, Muammar Gaddafi of Libya, believed to be
67, Eduardo dos Santos of Angola, also 67, Denis Sassou Nguesso
of Congo-Brazzaville, thought to be 66, and Uganda's Yoweri Museveni,
believed to be 65.
Together these men have ruled for close to 250 years
combined and none seems in a hurry to bend to free and fair democratic
will. It took the grim reaper to part Gabon's Omar Bongo, at 41
years the longest-serving president in African history, from the
levers of power last year at the age of 73.
It is hoped that the rise of civil society organisations
across Africa, flourishing on the internet, will prove a powerful
counterweight to future big men turned old men. But optimism should
be checked. The Mo Ibrahim prize for African leadership, intended
to honour good governance, was not awarded last year because no
worthy candidate could be found.
Mugabe, for one, shows no signs of going quietly.
In April, he will mark 30 years in power since Zimbabwe gained independence
from Britain, making him one of the world's longest-reigning leaders.
Urban myths abound about how the 86-year-old retains the zeal of
a man half his age.
Many wish that he had followed the example of Nelson
Mandela, now 91, whose decision to step down from South Africa's
presidency after one term guaranteed his special place in posterity.
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