27 December 2008
Cape Town — The African Union (AU) has condemned the return of coups d'état to the continent, describing the phenomenon as "a very serious setback in the ongoing democratization process in Africa."
Government ministers attending a meeting of the AU's Peace and Security Council in Addis Ababa this week issued three separate communiqués dealing with attempted or actual military takeovers during 2008.
In one, the council condemned the attack launched by renegade military elements on the residence of President João Bernardo Vieira of Guinea-Bissau on November 23, a week after legislative elections had been held in the country.
In another, the council welcomed the recent release of Mauritania's President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi by the leaders of the August coup which overthrew him, but deplored the "obstinance" of coup leaders who are refusing to allow a return to constitutional rule.
However, it was in its response to Tuesday's coup in Guinea that the AU noted what it called "the resurgence of the phenomenon of coup d'état, which constitutes a threat to peace and security on the continent…"
It said it strongly condemned the coup which followed the announcement of the death of President Lansana Conté.
Citing the numerous ways in which the authors of the coup had breached Guinean and international law, it accused them of acting "in flagrant violation of the Guinean Constitution, the Algiers Decision of July 1999, the Lomé Declaration of July 2000, the Constitutive Act of the AU, the Protocol Relating to the Establishment of the Peace and Security Council and relevant instruments of ECOWAS" (the Economic Community of West African States).
The Peace and Security Council asked AU's policy-making bodies to give in-depth consideration to the issue, including ways in which to give early warnings of and prevent coup attempts. The next African Union summit of heads of state will be held in Addis Ababa from February 1 to 3.
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Military Coup in Guinea: a political and Leadership Crisis Again, we give up to hope rather than sacrifice for what is right. Guineans must realize that no worthy cause is neither accomplished nor realized without an act of sacrifice and courage by its people. At a critical period with excellent opportunity to risk and claim the inalienable rights, freedom, justice and liberty for individual and collective progress for the people, we cowardly and unpatriotically settled for another military Junta; risking the future of a country and its potential for progress, once more. Why do we have to… [Read Full Text]
I totally agree with your suggestions. I am ready to go to Washington or New York to protest for the social justice of all Guineans. Me must protest in order to cure the "cancer politique" of our leadership in Guinea.
Democracy was created for the specific purpose of allowing "coups" to take place without violence, through the ballot box. As long as Africans, from the most lowly of beggars to the most haughty of leaders, remain convinced that a change in leadership is the most horrible thing that can ever happen to a nation, there will be no true democracy in Africa. The military will continue to usurp the will of the people with their guns, and the citizens will continue to encourage them to do so in the name of loyalty to their own authoritarian principles.
Coup is an undesirable phenomenon but it is hard to argue against it in the case of Guinea, especially for millions of Guineans that are suffering as results of Conte’s despotic years. Conte came to power in the early 80s through Coup though he tried to legalize his regime by racked elections, but in reality there was no actual change. His so-called democratic years were no different from his military dictatorship.
Government jobs were offered to his friends and relatives with no accountability at all. He was unapologetic to people’s sufferings and didn’t do anything to improve people’s lives despite… [Read Full Text]
You can think until your brains gush out; you can reflect, then reflect on your reflection, you will never rationally determine the structure of West African politics until you recognize that the game was up with British and French colonialism: these moribund thieves.
Elected soupists are no different from coupist soupists: the coup, qua phenomenon, offed because the militarized segment of the soupist state correctly perceived that the citizens of the Imperia would not entertain an imperial involvement in their governments' former 'colonies.'
Given the motivations of soupism, the coup in Guinea, any coup in soupified West… [Read Full Text]
It is sad that the AU and other regional bodies do not seem to address the underlining causes of coups, rather, they find it expedient to raise their voices only when the hot water explodes into their faces.
When we elect civilian governments, we do so with the expressed knowledge and intention that these civilian governments will rule according to the dictates of applicable laws, respect for human rights, embrace all clans/tribes and work toward the upliftment of their citizenry.
What we see however is the continued looting, endemic corruption, wantom disregard to the rights of people and the turning… [Read Full Text]
Setting aside the THE ISSUE OF THE EFFORTLESS destruction, DECONSTRUCTION (AUFBAU) of the concept of democracy, do you seriously---I mean, subsequent to a methodically controlled reflection--- maintain that "abstractions" are "meaningless?"
If that is your position (an abstractive-metaphor, by the way), then trash all your books on political 'science', physics and, the commanding sphere of the many kinds of mathematics, for all these phenomena are nothing but IDEALIZED ABSTRACTIONS.
NOW WHAT DO SAY, DUDE?
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Active Discussions: The Return of the Military Coup