Most African countries attained independence from colonists in the 1960s whereby they formed their own governments. This was a dream come true as it meant there was no more slavery or exploitation in own countries. They had been fighting for freedom for many years and they had achieved the most important goal. Despite the freedom that they had gained, the civilian governments were facing a bigger challenge which came from military dictatorship. According to this dictatorship is that the civilian governments are corrupt; they exploit civilians, they mismanage economies and are even incompetence.

Mengistu Haile Mariam, Aman Mikael Andom and Atnafu Abate, leaders of the Ethiopian military junta

The hunger for power is what has seen the rise of military dictatorships in Africa that has led many countries to get into wars. This has been seen in countries such as Sudan, South Sudan, Togo, Ghana and Congo among others.  Togo is in the record as being the first country to experience coup d’etat in the early 1960s.

The first military dictatorship in West Africa took place in Togo and this saw the assassination of President Sylvanus Olympio. This was in early 1963. It is in the same year that Abbe’ Youlou’s government was overthrown in Congo-Brazzaville. The year 1966 saw massive military coups as various countries were involved. In January 1966, Colonel Jean Bokassa ousted David Dacko of Cenral Africa Republic, President Yamego of Upper Volta was deposed by Colonel Lamizana, young officers in Nigeria led a coup that saw General Ironsi installed who was in the same year overthrown by General Gowon, a coup saw captain Micombero of Burundi take over while in Ghana, the military overthrew President Kwame Nkruma.

What could have led to military dictatorships?

Each country is different from the other but despite this, most challenges seems to be the same. One common challenge that has led to rise of dictatorship in most countries is not being able to resolve political stalemates in an amicable way. One main problem with this is the ethnic factor which is something that has been seen in Rwanda and Sudan. The military intervenes in order to have things “sorted” but it turns out to be a coup to overthrow the civilian government.

Things become worse

Instead of solving the issues that according to military rule are brought by civilian governments, the rule tends to make things worse. Military rule is known to be full of smugglers, bribe-takers who also evade taxes and generally engage in activities to enrich themselves leaving citizens with more problems than they found them. They are only known to have interest in oil production such as in Sudan and charcoal such as in the case of Somali. They also engage in other enrichment activities. 

Military d’etat has brought a lot of uncertainty and insecurity in Africa since its rise. Despite this being the 21st century, most countries are at risk of experiencing military interventions. This is due to increased hunger for power that leads to political and economic instability that military rule claims to “fight”.