Message-ID: <40.1882.2859@channel1.com> Date: Wed, 17 May 1995 17:27:00 -0640 From: James Mccoy <mailto:james.mccoy@CHANNEL1.COM> Subject: Re: Africa To: Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L
So what if the CIA helped to install Mobutu 30 years ago--during the intervening years there have been more than 100 different African heads of state most of whom came to power by force and without the CIAs assistance and most countries on the continent are worse off than they were at independence. I think that it is interesting to note that in the past the CIA was similarly involved in assisting with "transitions" in the South Korean government. However, the Koreans rather quickly--through education and sound economic policies--reasserted control over their government and is today frequently citied as an economic success story. In short, the US government can perhaps influence events in a country but over the longer run, the people of a country must step up and take responsibility for their own affairs. I think its interesting to note that while the world stood by and watched Idi Amin was murdering his countrymen by the thousands -- and no outside power had anything to do with his coup -- the Organization of African Unity elected him chairman and held their 1975 meeting in Kampala. Has the OAU ever criticized Mobutu?If you want a brave and enlightening view of Africa's problems from an African's point of view, I would highly recommend a book by George N. Ayittey, "Africa Betrayed." One quote that would be well worth considering is as follows:
"When black African leaders oppressed and slaughtered their own people, a multitude of rationalizations and alibis, usually citing past colonial inequities, were readily offered to explain their failings. In Europe, in particular, it was generally believed that the problems of Africa, devastated by centuries of colonialism, were exacerbated by American interference and imperialism. When will African dictators be held accountable for their misdeeds? Past colonial inequities or 'an unfair trading system'gives no African leader the license to terrorize his people."
Ayittey also quotes Mobutu as saying "I know my people. They like grandeur" --this was in defense of his having looted billions from the Zaire treasury.
Haiti provides a useful concluding analogy: Should the US have intervened in that country or not? Clearly the common Haitian citizen stands a better chance of surviving to middle age to day than under Baby Doc or even the previous military regime.
However, the US cannot stay indefinitely to keep check on the Aristide government. Ultimately, the future of Haiti will be determined by whether or not Aristide turns out to be a Lee Kuan Yew type of leader or a Mobutu-type leader and how effectively the people can control the government--and today, despite the odds that Aristide will be better than what preceeded him, no one can predict how the situation will turn out 30 years hence.
J. McCoy Kennedy School of Government Harvard