In unprecedented move the RPF online mouth piece the IGIHE.COM lists some of the African tyrants that were either dislodged from office or missed in action while defending their throne.  Among   the prominent dictators on the list is the man who called himself the “Leopard” Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga who made history by changing the name of his country from Congo to Zaire. Wearing his traditional hat made from a Leopard skin with a long stick many believed to be the source of power of his brutal reign.

The conflict in what was Zaire between the Rwandan supported rebels of Laurent Desire saw the former feared man making more history for presiding over the shortest war of rebels in Sub-Saharan Africa, because the war lasted for only one year. Compared to the RPF which took Four years and ended with a heavy human cost of genocide against the Tutsis and many Hutus with a magnitude of refugees in the neighbouring Zaire now Congo. In the neighbouring Uganda it took the NRA of president Yoweri  Museveni Five years to capture Kampala.

Mobutu had amassed wealth that no African leader could try in his shoes, indeed, in the 1970s, President Mobutu Sese Seko, leader of what was then Zaire, spent £100m building a luxurious palace complex for himself at Gbadolite, the village his family came from.  In the same way Kagame has amassed wealth in a short time compared to his counterparts on the continent, he is the only man with two private jets he uses to fly to the US to seek spiritual advice from pastor Rick Warren  at least twice a month.

The list includes also Amadou Toumani Toure of Mali who in 2012 the Military under the command of Captain Amadou Sanogo,deposed President Toure ahead of the April presidential elections, accusing him of failing to deal effectively with the Tuareg rebellion. Another African despot is Gen. François Bozizé, of Central African Republic irrespective of his predecessors being forced out of power, he did not learn anything, and instead he behaved even worse than those he replaced. Unfortunately Central African Republic has become a failed state with armed groups becoming more powerful than the central government.

Similarly, the Libyan leader Col. Mouammar Kadhafi  who initially labeled the rebels  as rats  and other demeaning names, however, in a dramatic turn he ran away for his dear life to his birth place Sirte were he was hiding, before his death he was hiding in a tunnel after  NATO bombed his convoy trying to free the advancing rebels. He was later killed in the most humiliating away that does not deserve a human being let alone a former head of state.

Further the list includes among others, the leaders of what is called the Arab spring  Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, of Tunisie coming first as the man who opened the gates of hell for his counterparts who were not only military rulers but the most oppressive despots of our time. You cannot mention, Ben Ali without mentioning President Hussein Mubarak of Egypt who ruled his country with iron fist with support of the most powerful nation on Earth.

The Ivory Coast Henri Konan Bédié, and his immediate successors, Gen. Robert Guei, and Laurent Gbagbo who is now facing crimes against humanity in The Hague. These are just part of the long list of the dictators of Africa, like Idi Amin of Uganda, EmperorJean-Bédel Bokassa of Central African Republic, Pascal Lissouba of Congo Brazzaville, Michael Micombero of Burundi and Col. Jean Batiste Bagaza, Gregory Kayibanda of Rwanda and Gen. Juvenal Habyarimana, Gen. Siad Barre of Somalia, Gen. Sani Abacha of Nigeria,   Col. Mengstu Mariam of Ethipoia . All these African rulers were a symbol of hell for their nation. Despite a bad precedent set by the brutal method of removing these dictators from power, those who succeeded them are more oppressive than those they replaced. For example Kagame of Rwanda has killed more people than his predecessors killed combined. He has crossed borders exporting the most dangerous methods of murder in Congo. It is believed that the recent sudden death of General Lucien Bahuma of DRC was the work of Kagame’s agents of death Bizima Karaha. It is not therefore surprising that the IGIHE.COM did not mention the present oppressive regimes for fear of mentioning their pay master Kagame or being killed in the same way other Rwandan journalists have brutally murdered or their papers closed. Whoever has an independent art and mind of professionalism exposing the atrocities and malpractices of the Kagame regime is not allowed to see the next sun rise.

Jacqueline Umurungi