Revolutionary Overthrow of Constitutional Orders in Africa

Chapter 4. How to Stage a Coup

43 Chapter 4 How to Stage a Coup There are available a few manuals on staging a coup d’état35 though what applies in one country may not necessarily hold true for another. Generally, however, a coup d’état in Africa is often a simple affair given the weak institutional, legal, psychological, social and economic foundation of many states. In his book, Dark Days in Ghana, 1966, Nkrumah made the accurate observation that a coup in Africa is an easy thing and that all that is needed is “a small force of disciplined men to seize the key points of the capital city and to arrest the existing political leaders.” MILITARY VEHICLE BLOCKS A STREET FOLLOWING A COUP 35 K Connor & D Hebditch, How to Stage a Military Coup from Planning to Execution, Pen & Sword Books, 2008; E Luttwak, op. cit.; JD Goodspeed, Six Coups d’Etat, Viking Press, New York, 1962; C Malaparte, Techniques du Coup d’Etat, Paris, 1931. 44 Prior agreement on salient matters The conspirators normally agree beforehand on who their leader would be and who would make the broadcast should the coup succeed. They also agree on the strategic date, day and time for their action which they usually code-name. In some cases they would choose to act when the ruler is away abroad (as in the case of Nkrumah) or away out of the capital city (as in the case of Obote). This is often the case if they assess there would be resistance from the presidential guards. By striking when the ruler is abroad or out of town the coup makers correctly reckon that any sustained resistance by the praetorian guards would be futile as the ruler would easily be prevented from getting back into the country or the capital city. In many cases however the coup makers take the ruler completely unawares in state house by using the ruler’s own body guards to eliminate him if he resists arrest as in the case of Tolbert of Liberia or to take him prisoner if he offers no resistance and then to deal appropriately with him later. Strategic control of the capital; emergency measures Meanwhile the armed conspirators take control of the capital city under the cover of darkness by ‘capturing’ strategic locations, buildings and installations: radio and television house, telecommunication installations, state house, parliament building, the international airport (usually in the capital city), and the seaport(s), if any. They put soldiers with the necessary competence and expertise to oversee radio and television, telecommunication facilities, and the airport so as to ensure that the civilians in charge of these facilities do not frustrate the coup enterprise through the use of their technical skills. Simultaneously, soldiers in armoured vehicles take up positions at strategic corners of the city while others patrol the streets, ready to neutralize any form of organized or spontaneous resistance by civilians or a non-cooperating military unit. 45 The tune of martial music over radio and television heralds a successful coup. The action of the coup leaders is announced over radio and television, against the backdrop of martial music. A voice comes over and announces that the ruler has been deposed and his government dismissed. As soon as the military depose the country’s ruler they set about institutionalizing the new revolutionary order by adopting certain ‘emergency measures.’ The announcement always contains the following measures imposed by the new regime: a dusk to dawn curfew; prohibition on going into the streets under pain of being shot at sight; severing of domestic and international communication links; closure of the airport, seaport, the land borders and the airspace; suspension or abrogation of the constitution and abolition of all offices held under it (except their own of course); ban on all public meetings and demonstrations and rallies; proscription of political parties and party political activities; dismissal of the government; and dissolution of parliament. The new regime then quickly decides the fate of the members of the overthrown government and other apologists of the regime. More often than not key regime members and apologists are arrested and summarily executed or tried by a military tribunal and then executed or imprisoned. The dissolution of parliament is however generally never followed by the arrest of all Members of Parliament, in part because the military are only too aware that many African parliaments play only a marginal, peripheral and rubber-stamp role in the governance...