Power in Africa

Power is defined as possession of control, authority, or influence over others. In Africa power rests in the gun and its incumbent upon those gun wielding individuals to limit their exercise of the gun over civilians. By the mid 1970’s the gun was solely the source of authority, as more external pressure from foreign governments and humanitarian groups kept mounting pressure on the then governments,a little baby steps were taken in upholding human rights and rule of Law. By the 1990’s at the height of the socialism and the collapse of Soviet Union, there was a significant decline in Arms supply in Africa. By 1994, the apartheid regime collapsed and made significant steps into power sharing upholding of human rights, while that was a charming end,little or no significant changes were made for the black brothers in South Africa as they remained confined to the small plots of land they were allocated by the white government,and while we grapple with that, hell broke loose in a small country called Rwanda as it witnessed the second of its kind,a genocide against the Tutsi minority which was trying to come back to regain power. When that debacle had just settled, DRC broke into chaos as Rwanda’s then minister of Vice President sought to attack eastern Congo to follow suit of the Hutus who had decimated their counter parts in Rwanda, interahamwe founded in congo around the fall of the Habyarimana government in Rwanda, there by following another hit on Congo to drive out Mobutu a dictatorship puppet installed by the Americans after the fall of Lumumba. All these speak of how efficient and decisive the gun has been in Africa in settling power scores. And therefore, leadership quest in Africa is a military issue and is yet to be civilized with a few exemptions here and there!