Is Africa a case of a failed democracy

In Africa coups and countercoups have remained in the political menu as electoral fraud and brutal civil wars become the order of the day. The political and civil gains that ordinary people had died for in order to wrest freedom from long entrenched oppressive governments appears at times to have been in vain, especially for countries consumed by fresh onslaughts brought about by some African leaders obsessed with power. These are the topics the media and human rights groups in Africa have been addressing. It does not help to blame the ordinary folk for the tragic human rights record that Africa carries as the century dawned.

The blame in many ways lies with the continent’s political leaders and their foreign allies who do not seem to have come to terms with the order. It took demonstrations and wars to democratize these countries, yet some leaders have chosen to ignore this.

Additionally, the obtaining concept of politics in Africa is largely borrowed from the residues of the western political culture and norms, and therefore its destructive to the greater vision of a liberated, independent, prosperous and a human rights responsive Africa. The need to design a new concept a homegrown concept of politics remains is a priority agenda for Africa.

The Genocide

These leaders seem to think it was a mistake to grant their countrymen their rights and political freedoms. They claim to be representing their countries and people, yet it is not lost to many and should not be to them that such loud claims are being met by even louder and bolder statements from their citizenry who have not hesitated to let it be known that their patience is running out.

A case in point is the 1994 genocide in Rwanda in which over 800,000 people were slaughtered in 100 days. The killings went down in the annals of history as the most catastrophic phenomenon in the African continent in the millennium. The genocide can perhaps only be compared to the holocaust, the slaughter of 6 million Jews by Hitler and his sympathizers and the slave trade of the 17th century in which millions of Africans were uprooted form their homes and shipped to foreign land to start a life of slavery. The Rwanda Tribunal in Arusha was set up by the United Nations to try the perpetrators, but no one can really get the full reprieve of the horror that left millions scared and traumatized for life.

Four years ago, I visited Rwanda to report on the memorial of the genocide and to follow up on the elusive search of Rwanda’s most wanted genocide suspect Felician Kabuga who remains at large. I used the opportunity to make a visit to the Gisozi Memorial site, which lies at the center of the genocide and symbolizes Africa’s darkest moments; about 250,000 people were buried in mass graves at this site. The site carries with it the memories of a forgotten genocide and a haunted nation. Inside the site is a storage facility where human skulls, clothes and crud weapons used in the genocide have been stored for historical purposes.

Rwanda stands between a fragile transition and a conceptual reconciliation period. The memorial sites both in Kigali and in Gisozi represents a wounded generation. According to Mrs. Murebwayihe Alphousine, the site was built in 2002 significantly to the healing and reconciliation process and plays a central role to the genocide survivors. The occurrence of the genocide goes way back in 1957 to 1994. The genocides used savagery methods to attack, both the Tutsi-led Banyamulenge and the Hutu-led Interahamwe militia shoot, clobbered and hacked to death many innocent civilians. The guerrilla-styled attacks organized against women and children were the most degrading form of human treatment ever perpetuated by human race. Tutsi pregnant mothers were attacked, brutally beaten and subjected to gang rape; in the process most of the Women miscarried.

My visit to Rwanda was a soul-searching one and carries with it great lessons for Kenya. The current transition needs to be reconciliatory with the past human rights violations and a culture of impunity.

Troubled region

In the troubled great Lakes, genocide minded-armed faction and militias have not given any indications that they learnt any lesson from the genocide in Rwanda and Burundi. The armed factions that continue to roam this troubled area have left no doubt that they have unfinished business and they will not rest until they annihilate certain ethnic groups. On the other hand, the national armies in these two countries in the course of their duties and out of ethnic concern have not hesitated to show their displeasure. The number of internally displaced persons in this region has continued to rise over time to become the highest in the continent. Thousands have been forced out of their homes due to insecurity and fear of recurring attacks. The Gisozi memorial site is significantly symbolic to the region if peace is to become a reality.

Human rights groups have confirmed that the interahamwe and their counterparts, the former soldiers of the Habyarimana regime, the ex-FAR, have now settled in refugees camps in western Tanzania having disguised as genuine refugees fleeing the conflicts in Burundi. But while these killers and torturous may have decided to change their bases, their mission remain the same- kill all Tutsi even if that involves destabilization of the whole region.

It seems now that after many years of ineffective attacks on Rwanda, these death squads have now decided to switch to Burundi, a country that in recent weeks has been tethering on the brink. Since last December, Hutu rebels allied to the Foreces for National Liberation (FNL) have stepped up their attacks in Burundi. They haved accused the CNDD/FDD wing of President Pierre Ngurunziza of undermining the Arusha Accord and staging attacks aganist opposition figuires in Bujumbura. The recent power sharing deal is acting as a catalyst. The rebels have taken advantage of the deal and have opted to mount attacks on government forces and innocent civillians. Burundi’s Tutsi –dominated army has not taken these lightly and is now squaring with some of the internally based rebel groups who continue to run the power game.

The consequence of this increased turmoil is a rise in civilian toll and serious human rights violations. By the end of December 2007 the rebels had step-up their onslaught to an ethnic protracted war thus threatening the peace process. At the same time the power sharing government in Burundi ticks as the rebels continues to mobilize hundreds of thousands of its supporters to scuttle the transition arrangements. Even President Pierri Ngurunziza onslaught on his persived enemies within the party has refused to bore fruits and has continued to push him into politcal wilderness.

Though it is easy to understand why the militia has turned its attention on derailing the deal, ethnic persuasions remains a factor in the conflict. It only needs the correct timing and willing ethnic demagogues. Like elsewhere in the continent, the latter are in abundance and one of these, the interahamwe, has offered to inflame the conflict in Burundi once again.

Refugees
This turmoil has precipitated an unmanageable refugee crisis aptly described by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees; the fate and conditions of refugees and internally displaced persons remain pathetic. Refugees continue the exodus from their countries of origin and settle in hostile environments, most of them are housed in shabby shelters that lack basic amenities. The conflict in the Great Lakes Region and the fragile peace in the Sudan, the absence of a central government in Somalia, the failed democracy in Kenya and repressive regime of President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe have compelled hundreds of thousands of refugees to settle almost permanently in neighboring countries as the situation in their own countries continues to deteriorate. From the dismal performance of president Joseph Kabila of the Republic of Congo to the armed skirmishes between foreign troops in Congo to the eruption of a brutal border clash between Eritrea and Ethiopia, a consensus seems to have emerged among the populace and human rights activists that will have a long way to go.