Revolutionary Overthrow of Constitutional Orders in Africa

Chapter 2. The Military, a Frankenstein Monster

15 Chapter 2 The Military, a Frankenstein Monster The generalized nature and frequency of coups in Africa puts into question the loyalty of the African military to the civil government. The frequency of coups also suggests that the African military is a deeply divided force since a coup is never the result of a unanimous decision by the armed forces. A house divided is a weak house. Thus ‘military-led authoritarianism’ and the ‘militarization of the political function’ in Africa probably suggest a creeping decay of the state in Africa and probably portend the eventual disintegration of the military institution itself. The military, regime security and national security The frequency of coups also suggests that civil-military relations are poor and that there is deep distrust between the two.10 As a result, no African government could possibly be sure that its orders would always be carried out by the military even though constitutionally the ruler is also the ‘commander-in-chief’ of the military forces. This situation puts the ruler in a dilemma because it implies that he is no more than a paper ‘commander in chief’. In fact, any measure deemed by the military, or even just a section of it, to be illconsidered could act as the spark triggering a coup. In coup-prone countries, governments therefore tend to live in fear of the military and the ruler sleeps with one eye open. 10 SP Huntington, The Soldier and the State: The Theory and Politics of Civil-Military Relations, Belknap Press, 1981; G Chileshe et al. (ed.), Civil-Military Relations in Zambia, Institute for Social Security, Pretoria, 2004; TS Cox, Civil-Military Relations in Sierra Leone: A Case Study of African Soldiers in Politics, Harvard University Press, Cambridge Mass., 1976. 16 In not a few African countries the distrust between soldiers and civilians remains a major concern. The attitude of soldiers towards the general population and vice versa is one of constant antagonism and despise. In many instances the military behave as an army of occupation and as though it can possibly live outside the wider society in a cloistered world of their own and by themselves. This inauspicious atmosphere is a pointer to extremely poor and unhealthy relations between the civilian population and the armed forces. In such circumstances it is very easy for any foreign army or even an insurgency to defeat the country’s military as demonstrated by the ease with which Tanzanian forces literally marched into Uganda and defeated Amin’s hated soldiers. It is a sad fact that in many African countries the military are not popular with local people and is seen and experienced as a force of oppression and extortion. This sort of atmosphere poses problems of both regime security and national security. A coup removes a regime from power. But a coup could also trigger an internal insurgency or a civil war as happened in Nigeria, Burundi, Sierra Leone, and Liberia engendering refugee flows and internal displacement of persons. Moreover, a coup could have the unintended effect of ‘inviting’ external intervention. France has intervened in Gabon, Congo-Kinshasa, Congo-Brazzaville, Chad, Central African Republic etc. to re-instated unwanted incumbents. It has intervened in Central African Republic, Comoros and Côte d’Ivoire to remove incumbents it is unhappy with. Tanzania intervened in Seychelles to save the incumbent government from an unfolding coup and in Uganda to remove an unwanted military government. Senegal intervened in Gambia to save the incumbent government from a creeping coup. Nigeria intervened in Sierra Leone to re-instate a government ousted by a military coup. In fact, a coup or insurgency could provoke hostility between neighbouring states as that between Sudan and Uganda provoked by the elusive Ugandan rebel group known as the Lord’s Resistance Army. It could provoke cross-border raids as between Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo or even an inter-state conflict as in 17 the case of the Uganda-Tanzania war in 197911 or the intervention of Ethiopia in Somalia in 2008. This state of affairs further poses a human security problem in view of the fact that some governments use the military for ordinary policing as well. Despotic regimes further use the military as a tool to deprive citizens of their freedom and the enjoyment of other fundamental human rights. The result is that repression and brutality of the people follows. These actions incur and...