...Kagame is not the only African leader who is both impressive and repressive, though he may be the most impressive and among the most repressive. Yoweri Museveni in Uganda has stabilized his country and paved a lot of roads in his 27 years in office, while harassing journalists and opposition members. Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia, who ruled for 21 years and died last summer, built Ethiopia’s booming economy but also squashed all dissent. Isaias Afewerki, Eritrea’s president, was a charming and progressive leader at one point in his career, but he has since shunned Western aid, locked up dissidents in underground shipping containers and turned his country into the North Korea of Africa. Significantly, all these men were rebel leaders who fought their way up from the trenches to the presidential suite. Perhaps there is something in the rebel experience — the fierce discipline or uncompromising vision — that helps explain why former rebels are so good at organization and administration but horrible at democracy. “These guys never, ever open up,” says John Prendergast, a founder of the Enough Project, a nonprofit anti-genocide group. “They just fear it.”....NEWYORK TIME:The Global Elite’s Favorite Strongman
Posted on: Thu, 05 Sep 2013 09:34:20 +0000