Grandiosity is often a trait of African leaders, such as Yahya Jammeh

AS THEY prepare for this week’s presidential inauguration, Americans of all political persuasions should pause for at least a few moments of gratitude.

Whether they approve of Trump or not, they should be thankful for our undeserved good fortune. Whatever political conflict we have and whatever riots may occur as well-funded, irate college students flock to the capital, these events will likely be nothing — truly nothing — in comparison to the course of politics in some parts of the world, especially in Africa, where democracy is often a synonym for mass butchery.

Consider the case of “His Excellency President Professor Dr. Al-Haji Yahya Jammeh,” the president of the tiny West African nation and former British colony of Gambia.

Jammeh seized power 22 years ago. His reign of terror, during which journalists and other critics have been killed or imprisoned; those suspected of being witches have been rounded up and poisoned; the economy has tanked, and Islam was declared the state religion, has left him with a weak reputation, both domestically and internationally. His “human rights” rating is very low.

Despite his dictatorial control, His Excellency President Professor (as he prefers to be called) was amazingly subject to an election last month. Unsurprisingly, he was defeated.

He now refuses, however, to accept the results. He said he would appeal to the Supreme Court. The problem is, he fired the Supreme Court judges last year. What will happen next no one knows.

Gambians are now fleeing in increasing numbers, some to Libya and then across the Mediterranean to Europe, and others are preparing for bloodshed at home. The president-elect, Adama Barrow, has also left the country.

The distressing truth is, this kind of thing happens fairly often in Africa.

For instance, in 2010, in Ivory Coast,  “Laurent Gbagbo, the president, refused to step down after the challenger, Alassane Ouattara, won a presidential election. Mr. Gbagbo declined to vacate the presidential palace, while Mr. Ouattara was forced to hole up in a hotel with United Nations peacekeepers watching over him.

The standoff led to months of turmoil and the deaths of more than 3,000 people as armed groups swept across the country and battled for control. Finally, France, the former colonial power, attacked Mr. Gbagbo’s compound and helped drive him out, culminating in his arrest in April 2011.” Source

The country of South Sudan is now roiled by violence as a result of two claimants to power: President Salva Kiir and his former vice president, Riek Machar. Mr. Kiir is a member of the Dinka community, and Mr. Machar is Nuer. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and mass rapes have occurred.

The Central African Republic has seen an even more violent civil war in recent years.

Though the conflict in Gambia is not essentially tribal (or I don’t think it is), the authoritarian strongman is a common feature in African politics. The strongman and his henchmen in Rayban sunglasses and military fatigues is often the only one who can overcome tribal divisions.

In 1997, Keith Richburg, then a reporter for The Washington Post, wrote in his outstanding book, Out of America, A Black Man confronts Africa, that, though he did not condone slavery, he was glad — very glad — that his ancestors paid the price to come to America on slave ships.

The political life in Africa involves too much violence, disregard for life, and lawlessness. As he wrote:

These things, though, are not too popular to discuss outside of Africa, particularly among the Africanists and Western academics for whom the very term “tribe” is anathema. The preferred term is “ethnic group” because it’s considered less racially laden. But Africans themselves talk of their “tribes,” and they warn of the potential for tribal explosion.

It’s long been the argument of the old African strongman that authoritarian rule is needed to prevent just those types of tribal blowups. Multiparty politics, according to this theory, inevitably leads to tribal violence, because pluralism encourages people to seek protective refuge in their familiar tribal units. It’s virtually inevitable that political parties will be organized along ethnic, meaning tribal, lines. And that’s not too different from tribal voting patterns in American big cities, where you can count on the black vote, the Irish vote, the Polish vote, the Italian vote, the Jewish vote. But in America, we don’t reach for our pangas if our tribe loses the election.

What will happen to the people of Gambia?

Jammeh once predicted his rule would last for a billion years.

Yahya Jammeh with Obamas

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