Africa’s Crowned Leaders

The Epoch Times | Koffi Antoine Nadjombe: "The last few years in Africa have witnessed the birth of bizarre political practices. Republics progressively and subtly transform into “joumloukiya,” an Arab expression combining the words for “republic” and “monarchy.”

It all started in the Democratic Republic of Congo, formerly known as Zaire, with the assassination of president Laurent-Désiré Kabila on January 16th 2001. It is said that in order to avoid chaos and collapse in a republic already weakened by fighting among rebel groups, Kabila’s son was placed on his father’s throne.

Some justify this antidemocratic act by the absence of a constitution. Certain Western countries, notably France, warned against this new attempt to rise to power by the simple fact of being the son of a deceased president. In spite of such warnings, however, a new experimental political school saw the light of day in Africa.

The next country to try the recipe was Togo. Thus, the Togolese people’s joy at seeing their dictatorial president die on February 5, 2005 was short-lived. The deceased bloodthirsty despot who ruled alone for 38 years was replaced with his son Faure Gnassingbé. This time, unable to invoke the lack of a constitution, the statute was quite simply modified.

Likely candidates to try this new political school in the near future are Cameroon, Gabon, Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt. "