AFRICANOMICS: THE PRICE TAG OF AFRICAN TYRANNIES

When the current unnamable dictators of Rwanda and Uganda invaded the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1996 to kill, rape, and loot DRC’s natural resources, nobody had a clue that the United Nations peacekeeping force sent to the DRC in 1999 would cost foreign taxpayers in the developed world 1.3 billion dollars a year and for at least the following 16 years.

Now let’s do the numbers. The United Nations have spent over 21 billion dollars in the last 16 years to run a force of 22,000  uniformed personnel and carry out a series of military operations there to stop the looting and killings sponsored by Rwanda and Uganda. If we have to put a partial price tag of these two tyrannical regimes, 1.3 billion dollars per year (roughly over 21 billion dollars inflation adjusted for the past 16 years) is the most conservative figure to start with.

Source:  http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/missions/monusco/facts.shtml)

To this initial price tag of just two African tyrannies, which by far is only a tip of the iceberg, we must add human lives lost as a result of wars sponsored by Rwanda and Uganda inside the D.R. Congo.  Again, there is no hidden secret here: those wars have caused the death of over 5.4 million Congolese, mostly in eastern Congo. Several thousands of women were raped by Rwandan troops, Ugandan troops, the DRC government troops, and rebels armed by Rwanda and Uganda. Congo’s natural resources have been systematically looted in the meantime. Organized crime at unprecedented proportions in recent world history!

The list of atrocities by these two career criminals behind the presidential desks of Rwanda and Uganda has been well documented by the United Nations and other independent sources.  Here is just a sample of what the world knows so far:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/794496.stm

http://www.nytimes.com/1999/08/16/world/rwanda-and-uganda-battling-to-control-key-city-in-congo.html

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/11/28/f-vp-macinnes-rae-congo.html?cmp=rss

http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/index.php?sum=574&p1=3&p2=3&case=116&p3=5

http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/2012/843

www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/CD/DRC_MAPPING_REPORT_FINAL_EN.pdf

No doubt, the price tag of African tyrannies is too high for foreign taxpayers and for Africans themselves. We are dealing with career criminals behind presidential desks and the civilized world can no longer afford subsidizing African tyrannies directly or via the United Nations.  

AFRICA'S PROBLEM = CAREER CRIMINALS (AKA DICTATORS) + DOMESTIC ORGANIZED CRIME + TRANSNATIONAL ORGANIZED CRIME

I have repeated scores of time: Africa’s organized crime dwarfs Sicily’s Mafia to the point Mafiosi look like Mediterranean pygmies. That organized crime has hijacked Africa for 55 years, impeded human development and reduced hundreds of millions to misery is no secret to anyone. Independent international organizations, including the United Nations, have published reports on the scavenging behaviors of Africa’s career criminals behind presidential desks. That species, with its corrosive stomach acid, is not ready to stop feeding on Africa’s fragile economies. Ask any African and you will hear the same response: politics is the privileged venue to become rich. Translation: if you join national organized crime via politics, chances are you will not starve! That is the source of Africa’s tragedy.

It is Africans’ sole responsibility to devise creative solutions to get rid of their career criminals behind presidential desks. The task is not an easy one given the corruption web tyrants have woven for over 55 years and the career criminals’ survival instincts. Given Africa’s limited influence on world politics and transnational organized crime, Africans must focus on the parts of the equation they have control over. In other words, it is their responsibility to (1) set clear goals, i.e., dismantle and destroy domestic organized crime and its many identifiable criminals, including those career criminals behind presidential desks; (2) devise strategies and tactics to eliminate all forms of tyranny; (3) carry out those strategies and tactics to create dictatorship-free zones across the continent; (4) built institutions that strengthen the rule of law, democracy, and human rights.

I HAVE A DREAM, TOO

I have a dream that someday my fellow Africans will finally gain their independence, for they have never been independent in the last 500 years from slavery, colonialism, neocolonialism, Cold War dictatorships, and Post-Cold War tyrannies that have sprung like deadly viruses across the African continent.

 

I have a dream that someday my fellow Africans will learn that independence and freedom go hand in hand and that an independent people is also a free people. I have a dream that my fellow Africans will keep burning the torch of liberty, teaching their posterity to always wipe any seed of tyranny from its very onset. 

I have a dream that someday my fellow Africans will break the bands of slavery, yeah, the bands of captivity and that they will free themselves from their masters, yeah, those “career criminals behind presidential desks” who confiscate power, crush opposition, plunder, murder and reduce hundreds of millions of human beings to misery.

I have a dream that, like the Hero carved in marble, my fellow Africans will chant in unison: “Free at last, free at last!”

Jean Kapenda, 01/14/2015

 

Republished on 1/19/2015 @ http://www.voanews.com/content/us-observes-martin-luther-king-jr-day/2604153.html#hash=relatedInfoContainer

REDUCING AFRICAN DICTATORS TO NOTHINGNESS: A MORAL RESPONSIBILITY

They have ruled their countries with an iron fist, scammed foreign taxpayers with billions of dollars in foreign aid, tailored their countries constitutions to fit their animalistic and primitive tendencies, enslaved hundreds of millions of human beings whose only dream is the word “freedom”. They didn’t stop there. They have deliberately killed millions, of which over 5,000,000 only in Eastern Congo, when Rwanda’s dictator Paul Kagame  and Uganda’s tyrant Yoweri Museveni sent in troops to loot, rape, and kill innocents. The United Nations spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to document those atrocities against humanity. However, nothing has happened. The evil, yes those ugly beasts and other similar creatures (aka dictators), is still walking free, unloosed.

Now, here is how we can put a leash on those African monsters and reduce them to nothingness: (1) Expand the “no-red-carpet policy for African tyrants” already in place in many industrialized nations; (2) Increase sanctions against African tyrants to include freezing assets, travel ban, and limiting or eliminating foreign aid for countries ruled by dictators; (3) Press the International Criminal Court (ICC) to charge African tyrants whose human rights violations are well-documented (Kenyatta’s  appearance at the ICC being a successful ballon d’essai that “African career criminals behind presidential desks”- a new expression I have coined-  can still be prosecuted while in office); (4) Take action on the United Nations’ reports on atrocities committed by African tyrants, intelligence reports on human rights violations by African dictators, and other well-documented findings by independent sources.

Below is just the tip of the iceberg:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/794496.stm

http://www.nytimes.com/1999/08/16/world/rwanda-and-uganda-battling-to-control-key-city-in-congo.html

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/11/28/f-vp-macinnes-rae-congo.html?cmp=rss

http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/index.php?sum=574&p1=3&p2=3&case=116&p3=5

 

http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/2012/843

www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/CD/DRC_MAPPING_REPORT_FINAL_EN.pdf

 May this 2015 be a year where most Africans will finally be given a break from tyranny and other forms of oppression by the forces of the evil!  May African tyrants be reduced to nothingness through concerted actions by individuals, groups, and governments that champion human rights and respect for human dignity!

TRANSITION TO DEMOCRACY IN A NUTSHELL

I like teaching about transition to democracy. For Africans, the word "transition" has become  the buzz word. Transition to democracy begins with the defeat, the surrender, or the collapse of a dictator. Put simply, wherever a dictator or the military still hold power, there is no transition to democracy. The 21 years I spent in Latin America have confirmed this essential thesis. For countries with previous democratic experience, such as Chile, Argentina, and Brazil, transition to democracy culminated with the consolidation of democracy in a very short period of time. The collective memory of past consolidated democracy played a crucial role in the consolidation process. In Africa, we might  expect longer transitions because of the lack of that collective memory.  However, the first step, overthrowing a dictator, is what really matters for now. The second step is to create mechanisms that promote effective check-and-balance between the three branches of government in order to crush any tyrannical intent. It is no secret that African parliaments have always been arenas for political prostitution and corruption and that courts serve the interests of dictators and other immoral individuals. Africans must choose their best citizens for government positions for smoother and quicker transition to consolidated democracy. There will be several roadblocks along the way. Many Latin American countries, despite the re-democratization process started in early 1980s, are still in the transitional phase!  There's still much Africans can learn from those democracies in transition. Unfortunately, African dictators love to learn from their peers, from the way they successfully walk around constitutional barriers to remain in power forever.  Shame on them!

P.S. I first published this comment @  the Foreign Policy Magazine on November 3, 2014 

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/11/01/burkina_faso_s_silver_lining_compaore_coup

Related articles and comments:

http://www.voanews.com/content/burkina-faso-scrambles-to-pick-leader-before-deadline/2522552.html#hash=relatedInfoContainer

http://www.voanews.com/content/kafando-sworn-in-as-burkina-faso-transitional-president/2524280.html

http://www.voanews.com/content/dr-congo-debates-to-amend-or-not-to-amend-constitution/2507098.html#hash=relatedInfoContainer

THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF TYRANNY IN AFRICA: BURKINA FASO SET THE TONE

I was the first to coin the expression " Africa's mad Basenjis" to designate that specie of African dictators and tyrants that have caused so many tragedies to the African continent.  Take the case of the dictators of Rwanda and Uganda and it's hard and un-human to believe these two mad Basenjis are still walking and travelling free after killing over 5,000,000 Congolese through their sponsored wars in the DRC. 

 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/794496.stm

http://www.nytimes.com/1999/08/16/world/rwanda-and-uganda-battling-to-control-key-city-in-congo.html

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/11/28/f-vp-macinnes-rae-congo.html?cmp=rss

http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/index.php?sum=574&p1=3&p2=3&case=116&p3=5

http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/2012/843

www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/CD/DRC_MAPPING_REPORT_FINAL_EN.pdf

The six truths to be learned from the events in Burkina Faso are: (1) Africa's mad Basenjis are and will always be fearful individuals. They fear their own people and the international community's increasing ability to prosecute them through the famous International Criminal Court. That's why they cling to power; (2) The only way Africa's mad Basenjis remain on power is by persecution and spreading fear among their citizens. Fear to be assassinated, bagged in sacs, let to float on a lake, buried down a river, or even reduced to ashes. This is the terror regime, African version; (3) Fear has been the most important cause of Africa's underdevelopment. Fearful individuals cannot create or produce at their full capacity. It is just against the law of knowledge and production. Free people throughout ages have been the most creative and have improved the quality of lives worldwide; (4)  Africans bear the responsibility to break free from fear and to experience freedom. The people of Burkina Faso have set the tone for the end of tyranny in Africa by courageously facing and overthrowing a tyrant. The international community must quarantine African tyrants and support democracy fighters across the continent; (5) Africa's parliaments under dictatorships act like prostitutes. Once they're paid, they're ready to  perform at the will of dictators who control everything (courts, legislature, the executive branch) and try to control even the minds of their  people; (6) Africa's mad Basenjis are a real threat to the mental health, public health, and public safety of millions of Africans. Therefore eradicating tyrants one at a time or en masse is a moral responsibility of anybody worthy to be called a human being. A bon entendeur, salut!

 

I first expressed this opinion in the Foreign Policy Magazine @

http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2014/10/31/burkina_faso_might_finally_realize_favorite_leader_s_dreams_for_his_country

Other links to my comments and other reactions:

http://www.voanews.com/content/lt-colonel-taking-power-in-burkina-faso/2504328.html

http://www.voanews.com/content/burkina-faso-opposition-leaders-reject-army-takeover/2504745.html

INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT'S MOVE IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION

Human rights activists around the globe have a reason to celebrate: an African head of state is standing trial at the feared International Criminal Court, which means the door is wide open to bring African dictators to court or quarantine them for good in their homelands. Although evidence against Mr. Kenyatta is not as strong as against Messrs. Paul Kagame and Yoweri Museveni ( see links below), these two gentlemen are next to be charged with crimes against humanity by the ICC. Their atrocities in the DRC are well documented by the United Nations and witnesses abound. 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/794496.stm

http://www.nytimes.com/1999/08/16/world/rwanda-and-uganda-battling-to-control-key-city-in-congo.html

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/11/28/f-vp-macinnes-rae-congo.html?cmp=rss

http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/index.php?sum=574&p1=3&p2=3&case=116&p3=5

http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/2012/843

www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/CD/DRC_MAPPING_REPORT_FINAL_EN.pdf (This is a United Nations report documenting crimes committed by the leaders of Rwanda and Uganda and others in the D.R. Congo between 1993 and 2003)

Let's schedule Paul Kagame and Yoweri Museveni to stand trial at The Hague in the following weeks or issue arrest warrants against them should they decide not to cooperate.

P.S. I published this opinion in the Foreign Policy Magazine on 10/10/2014 @
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/10/10/how_to_destroy_international_criminal_court_from_within_kenya_ICC_kenyatta_hague