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31 Chapter Five IT’S A BATTLEFIELD cursory look at current events on the African continent leads one to scream like Graham Greene did many years ago in his book titled It’s a battlefield (1962). The title of his work brings to mind the telltale history of Africa. Ours seems to be a tale of violence and bloodshed. One only needs to take a walk down memory lane: the genocide in Rwanda and Darfur, the bloodbath in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the Saga in Côte d’Ivoire, and the recent ethnic cleansing that came in the wake of rigged elections in Kenya to name but a few. Many factors account for this impasse, the most patent of which are artificial boundaries created between African peoples by colonial masters. As Kambudzi (op cit, 8) posits: The irony with Africa is that its political boundaries derived from externally negotiated settlements, not to say brute European military force, rather than any ethno-linguistic arrangement. The trail of economic destruction and human suffering left on the African continent by civil wars is without precedence. Why civil wars continue to be routine on our continent remains a moot point. One reason may be that political oppression, racial subordination and economic exploitation have condemned Africans to a common misfortune. Another reason for the recurrence of civil strife in Africa is that aspirants to political power have often held different views as regards new socio-politico-economic dispensations in their respective countries. Sometimes a civil war erupts as a result of the demise of a dictatorial political order under a tyrannical president. The case of the Somali civil war which erupted in the aftermath of the fall of the dictator, Siad Barre, is still fresh in our minds. The civil war that engulfed Liberia following the demise of Machiavellian Samuel Doe is another case in point. We cannot forget the civil war in Ethiopia that ended after the fall of Mengistu Haile Mariam. In the main, it makes sense to conclude that the absence of a firm constitutional blueprint in the majority of African states has contributed immensely to the prevalence of civil wars on the continent. A firm constitutional blueprint would serve a two-fold purpose. Firstly, it would guarantee fair power-sharing and equitable participation in the political life of nations. Secondly, a good blueprint would ensure A 32 that there is organized political succession, including the formulation of laws that stipulate the terms of office for presidents, members of parliament and ministers. Nigeria embodies the political difficulties that Africa has experienced due to the absence of a constitutional framework. Despite the proliferation of constituent federal units in Nigeria, the conception of a firm constitutional and political order is still problematic. In consequence, the military has monopolized power in Nigeria since independence from Great Britain more than forty years ago. In the words of Kambudzi (op cit, 11),”Nigeria oscillates today between political chaos and military autocracy!” He describes Nigeria as a prototype of neo-colonial states characterized by the following ills: • Foreign domination; • Foreign ownership of big business; • External military reinforcement; • External financial control; • Local intelligence services involving outside secret agents and mercenaries; • Network of corruption; and • Insignificant indigenous involvement in politics or business. It has to be noted that the constitutional issue in Africa means more than simply drawing up a constitution. Africa’s constitutions must be upheld in the day-to-day governance of nations. At present, there is too much toying around with national constitutions in Africa. There must be a way of holding African leaders accountable for any breaches of the constitution. The recent political fiascos in Togo and Cameroon are incontrovertible evidence that when the supreme law of the land is subjected to the whims and caprices of dishonest, selfseeking politicians, the end product is chaos and civil strife. Social stability and economic development are not chance occurrences. They are the result of sound decision-making. By and large, the truth about Africa is that we are peace-lovers. Africans want a better place to live in. Sadly enough, when one looks at the history of Africa keenly, one observes three levels of oppression that stand out like sore fingers: blacks oppressing blacks, Arabs oppressing Blacks and whites (neo-colonizers) oppressing both Blacks and Arabs. We cannot allow this inhumane status quo to go on forever. The onus is on us all to devise ways and means to reverse the current...

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