africa trails

… of blood.

while libyan streets are filling up with protesters and tanks and rogue mercenaries from all around the globe, let’s take some time and see what the rest of the african continent has to offer. dates are those of reign, despite the fact that some could look like dates of birth and death. I know it’s a huge list but some names here will stand out… “hey, I’ve heard that name once…”

let’s begin:

Algeria: Abdelaziz Bouteflika (1999 to this day)

Angola: Jose Eduardo dos Santos (1979 to this day)

Burkina Faso: Blaise Compaoré (1987 to this day)

Cameroon: Paul Biya (1982 to this day)

Chad: Idriss Déby (1991 to this day)

Congo (Republic of): Denis Sassou Nguesso (1979 to 1992, 1997 to this day)

Congo (D.R. of): Joseph Kabila (2001 to this day), succeeded his father Laurent- Désiré Kabila (1997 to 2001), before them Mobutu ruled Zaire from 1965 to 1997

Cote d’Ivoire: Laurent Gbagbo (2000 to this day) last election contested

Djibouti: Ismail Omar Guelleh (1999 to this day), succeeded to his uncle Hassan Gouled Aptidon (1977 to 1999)

Egypt: Hosni Mubarak (1981 to 11/02/2011)

Equatorial Guinea: Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo (1979 to this day)

Eritrea: Isaias Afewerki (1991 to this day)

Gabon:  Ali Bongo Ondimba (2009 to this day), son of Omar Bongo Ondimba (1967 to 2009)

Gambia: Yahya Jammeh (1994 to this day)

Kenya: Mwai Kibaki (2002 to this day), from the Kikuyu tribe just as DanielArap Moi (1978-2002)

Lesotho: Letsie III (1996 to this day), son of Moshoeshoe II (1966 to 1996)

Liberia: Ellen Sirleaf Johnson (2005 to this day), only elected female head ofstate of Africa

Libya: Muammar Gaddafi (1969 to this day… not for long)

Morocco: Mohammed VI (1999 to this day), son of Hassan II (1961 to 1999)

Namibia: Hifikepunye Pohamba (2005 to this day), loyal successor to SamNujoma (1990 to 2005)

Rwanda: Paul Kagame (1994 to this day)

Somalia: president in exil, rival factions taking the country apart since 1991

Sudan: Umar Hassan al-Bashir (1989 to this day)

Swaziland: King Msati III (1982 to this day), son of Sobhuza II (1921 to 1982)

Togo: Faure Gnassingbé (son of Gnassingbé Eyadéma, president from 1967 to 2005)

Tunisia: Zine el Abidine Ben Ali (1987 to 14/01/2011)

Uganda: Yoweri Kaguta Museveni (1986 to this day)

Zimbabwe: Robert Mugabe (1980 to this day)

africa has always seen bloodshed and battle, from the time the arab kings raided the continent in search for slave to the europe taking its toll on the african land. all the way to this year 2011, the black continent has always been one to attract businessmen and want-to-be kings. oil and gas run in its underground, diamonds and wood flourish in the sand and forests, and even tourism is seen as a way to make money rather than educate and promote a more responsible attitude. the virunga national park, first of its kind in africa, was born in 1925 and almost a hundred years have passed, war is raging within its borders, killing gorillas and threatening the work that everyone in D.R. of Congo had put in this huge protected area. african politicians are just like those in europe or anywhere else: looking for power, personnel gain and… well, everlasting glory I guess. but lately, thrones have been thrown down into the dust and regimes 30 years old torn into shreds.

tunisia showed the way, egypt jumped in, libya is fighting as we speak, and countries where there use to be almost no real opposition like yemen, jordan, oman or bahrein are trying to make themselves heard. the powers in place are strong, well assisted by foreign warlords like the u.s., europe, china or russia and fear nothing. nothing until recently. that such a tyrannic leader as gaddafi would actually lose most of his army to the anger of his constituants seemed just impossible a couple years ago. we used to see this guy sitting with all the gratin-mondain under umbrellas on the 14th of july in paris, or the presidential couple in washington throwing a party for teodoro mbasogo, of equatorial guinea, who’s ignoring the suffering of his people but is the fourth-largest producer of crude oil in sub-saharan africa, for a country the size of… well, my grand-mother’s backyard could hold more trees. ok my grand-mother has got nothing to do with oil, or africa, or for that matter with any kind of tree whatsoever. so I’ll leave her alone. where was I? yes, we’ve (I’ll use we since most of the readers of this lame post will probably come from europe or north america) always supported those tyrannic heads of state with all the help we could give them, sometimes quietly disposing of a rival, financing an election, bring in some juicy deals to be signed by the right person at the right time… anyway: eyes closed like a horse on a carrousel, we’ve said nothing while all these people were (are) being tortured and killed, human rights associations ringing the bell for nothing. economy rules.

an ideal african leader would have the following: the right lineage, the right education, the right amount of independence towards more powerful countries, the correct mix of fist and cuddle if I may say so, and above all he would have to be peacefull, trustworthy (like any politician should be… hey who am I kiding here?) and eager to change things but not to his advantage. ok I’ve just described my ideal leader no matter where that country would stand. but the fact is that today the subject is africa. kings are dead. burried, old history, there shouldn’t be any. presidents tend to get greedy and leave for clearer skies when things get messy (look at Ben Ali in Saudi Arabia chilling on his terrasse with his burning-hot-green-tea…). so what? I don’t know. I’m just chillin’ on my patio with my not-so-hot-anymore cup of crappy president’s choice coffee.