rain_gryphon | Ranting about Africa

Das Beeb has an interesting photo essay on the ruins of Jean Bedel Bokassa's palace. For all that I'd imagine few people these days remember him, he was a high-profile dictator in the 1970s, and constantly in the news. He (along with Idi Amin) is mainly responsible for my interest in equatorial African politics. When I was in high school he decided that he was the reincarnation of Napoleon Bonaparte, and crowned himself Emperor of Africa. The rather tacky-looking Eagle Throne (made of real gold) in picture #4 was part of that. The ceremonies surrounding his 'accession' pretty well bankrupted the country, which had been getting by until that point, and he spent the next few years dressing his army up in Napoleonic uniforms, talking about his military and diplomatic prowness, and publicly issuing advice to the Pope. He finally quit being funny when he started having elementary school children executed if their families couldn't afford to buy the official school uniform that he was selling.

As seems to be their custom, the French took him out shortly after he started that. IIRC it took about two planeloads of French paratroopers to completely overwhelm and suppress his hitherto-invincible army. For all that it's inviting to make fun of France, they do seem to feel a solid sense of moral obligation toward their ex-colonies.

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Rescuing a drowning baby deer.

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So, interestingly enough (to me), here's some fellow from the Congo claiming that that weird uprising after Christmas was probably orchestrated by John Numbi, Kabila's former Chief of Police. Apparently it was rather more serious than was apparent from outside, and Kabila was ready to flee the country at one point. If this fellow's sources are correct, Katanga's also been preparing for another round of strife while Kabila has been distracted in the east. Fifty-five years of civil war, and no sign of stopping.

Ultimately the root of the problem is that the Congo simply isn't a country. It's the western provinces, the eastern provinces, and Katanga, and none of them like or trust the others very much, and certainly there's no sense of a national identity. Had the UN left well enough alone, Katanga would have seceded 50 years ago, and would today probably be profitably supplying steel^1 to Africa and copper to the world.

^1 They had a modern, thriving steel industry in 1960, and were shipping steel up and down the continent. Half a century of war has been hard on the infrastructure.