African Leaders Thread

[Waranle_Warrior]

This is very good thread. I forgot about most of these men and its good reminder. Thanks Alpha.

[Alpha Blondy]

Naxar Nugaaleed;804654 wrote:

Wangari Maathai

 

Wangari Muta Maathai was born in Nyeri, Kenya (Africa) in 1940. The first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate degree. Wangari Maathai obtained a degree in Biological Sciences from Mount St. Scholastica College in Atchison, Kansas (1964). She subsequently earned a Master of Science degree from the University of Pittsburgh (1966). She pursued doctoral studies in Germany and the University of Nairobi, obtaining a Ph.D. (1971) from the University of Nairobi where she also taught veterinary anatomy. She became chair of the Department of Veterinary Anatomy and an associate professor in 1976 and 1977 respectively. In both cases, she was the first woman to attain those positions in the region. Wangari Maathai was active in the National Council of Women of Kenya in 1976-87 and was its chairman in 1981-87. It was while she served in the National Council of Women that she introduced the idea of planting trees with the people in 1976 and continued to develop it into a broad-based, grassroots organization whose main focus is the planting of trees with women groups in order to conserve the environment and improve their quality of life. However, through the Green Belt Movement she has assisted women in planting more than 20 million trees on their farms and on schools and church compounds.

 

In 1986, the Movement established a Pan African Green Belt Network and has exposed over 40 individuals from other African countries to the approach. Some of these individuals have established similar tree planting initiatives in their own countries or they use some of the Green Belt Movement methods to improve their efforts. So far some countries have successfully launched such initiatives in Africa (Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, Lesotho, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, etc). In September 1998, she launched a campaign of the Jubilee 2000 Coalition. She has embarked on new challenges, playing a leading global role as a co-chair of the Jubilee 2000 Africa Campaign, which seeks cancellation of the unpayable backlog debts of the poor countries in Africa by the year 2000. Her campaign against land grabbing and rapacious allocation of forests land has caught the limelight in the recent past.

 

Wangari Maathai is internationally recognized for her persistent struggle for democracy, human rights and environmental conservation. She has addressed the UN on several occasions and spoke on behalf of women at special sessions of the General Assembly for the five-year review of the earth summit. She served on the commission for Global Governance and Commission on the Future. She and the Green Belt Movement have received numerous awards, most notably The 2004 Nobel Peace Prize. Others include The Sophie Prize (2004), The Petra Kelly Prize for Environment (2004), The Conservation Scientist Award (2004), J. Sterling Morton Award (2004), WANGO Environment Award (2003), Outstanding Vision and Commitment Award (2002), Excellence Award from the Kenyan Community Abroad (2001), Golden Ark Award (1994), Juliet Hollister Award (2001), Jane Adams Leadership Award (1993), Edinburgh Medal (1993), The Hunger Project's Africa Prize for Leadership (1991), Goldman Environmental Prize (1991), the Woman of the World (1989), Windstar Award for the Environment (1988), Better World Society Award (1986), Right Livelihood Award (1984) and the Woman of the Year Award (1983). Professor Maathai was also listed on UNEP's Global 500 Hall of Fame and named one of the 100 heroines of the world. In June 1997, Wangari was elected by Earth Times as one of 100 persons in the world who have made a difference in the environmental arena. Professor Maathai has also received honorary doctoral degrees from several institutions around the world: William's College, MA, USA (1990), Hobart & William Smith Colleges (1994), University of Norway (1997) and Yale University (2004).

 

The Green Belt Movement and Professor Wangari Maathai are featured in several publications including The Green Belt Movement: Sharing the Approach (by Professor Wangari Maathai, 2002), Speak Truth to Power (Kerry Kennedy Cuomo, 2000), Women Pioneers for the Environment (Mary Joy Breton, 1998), Hopes Edge: The Next Diet for a Small Planet (Frances Moore Lappé and Anna Lappé, 2002), Una Sola Terra: Donna I Medi Ambient Despres de Rio (Brice Lalonde et al., 1998), Land Ist Leben (Bedrohte Volker, 1993).

 

Professor Maathai serves on the boards of several organizations including the UN Secretary General's Advisory Board on Disarmament, The Jane Goodall Institute, Women and Environment Development Organization (WEDO), World Learning for International Development, Green Cross International, Environment Liaison Center International, the WorldWIDE Network of Women in Environmental Work and National Council of Women of Kenya.

 

In December 2002, Professor Maathai was elected to parliament with an overwhelming 98% of the vote. She was subsequently appointed by the president, as Assistant Minister for Environment, Natural Resources and Wildlife in Kenya's ninth parliament.

 

On 28 March 2005, Maathai was elected the first president of the African Union's Economic, Social and Cultural Council and was appointed a goodwill ambassador for an initiative aimed at protecting the Congo Basin Forest Ecosystem. In 2006 she was one of the eight flagbearers at the 2006 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony. Also on 21 May 2006, she was awarded an honorary doctorate by and gave the commencement address at Connecticut College. She supported the International Year of Deserts and Desertification program. In November 2006, she spearheaded the United Nations Billion Tree Campaign. Maathai was one of the founders of the Nobel Women's Initiative along with sister Nobel Peace laureates Jody Williams, Shirin Ebadi, Rigoberta Menchu Tum, Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan Maguire. Six women representing North America and South America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa decided to bring together their experiences in a united effort for peace with justice and equality. It is the goal of the Nobel Women's Initiative to help strengthen work being done in support of women's rights around the world.

 

In August 2006, then United States Senator Barack Obama traveled to Kenya. His father was educated in America through the same program as Maathai. She and the Senator met and planted a tree together in Uhuru Park in Nairobi. Obama called for freedom of the press to be respected, saying, "Press freedom is like tending a garden; it continually has to be nurtured and cultivated. The citizenry has to value it because it's one of those things that can slip away if we're not vigilant." He deplored global ecological losses, singling out President George W. Bush's refusal to join the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its subsidiary, the Kyoto Protocol.

 

Maathai was defeated in the Party of National Unity's primary elections for its parliamentary candidates in November 2007 and chose to instead run as the candidate of a smaller party. She was defeated in the December 2007 parliamentary election. She called for a recount of votes in the presidential election (officially won by Mwai Kibaki, but disputed by the opposition) in her constituency, saying that both sides should feel the outcome was fair and that there were indications of fraud.

 

In June 2009, Maathai was named as one of PeaceByPeace.com's first peace heroes. Until her death, Maathai served on the Eminent Advisory Board of the Association of European Parliamentarians with Africa (AWEPA).Wangari Maathai died of complications arising from ovarian cancer while receiving treatment at a Nairobi hospital on 25 September 2011.

[Alpha Blondy]

Waranle_Warrior;927121 wrote:

This is very good thread. I forgot about most of these men and its good reminder. Thanks Alpha.

thanks WW. please post your favourite African leaders or any African leader whose held any particular post or position, irrespective of western portrayals, as per the rules of the thread.

 

Al.

[Waranle_Warrior]

^You wouldn't like my taste of African leaders ee maad naga daysid, hadhow ayaad oranaysaa you ruined my thread.

 

Here you go:

 

 

The soldier who respected and treated the army Generals at the map drawing table and the soldiers on the field alike. A man who shared the bullets and the plate with his comrades. The initiator of the first rebellion against the powerful old junta of Barre. The founder of Puntland. The President of the 3rd republic who masterminded and resumed power to Villa Somalia and current government his legacy.

 

 

What do you think about my addition Alpha, I knew you wouldn't like my taste

[Alpha Blondy]

Waranle_Warrior;927332 wrote:

^You wouldn't like my taste of African leaders ee maad naga daysid, hadhow ayaad oranaysaa you ruined my thread.

 

 

 

 

What do you think about my addition Alpha, I knew you wouldn't like my taste

contrary to your hasty judgement of my politics, YES abdulahi yusuf is an african, although many have attested to his aboriginal origins in the past, but i think its safe to say he qualifies under the rules of the thread.

 

what's really disappointing, however, is that you've revealed your tribal DNA with your choice of leader here and this may in the medium to long term, have serious repercussions, for our cordial relations, inaar.

[Waranle_Warrior]

^LOool, my addition to the thread and the posted leader has nothing to do with my tribal affiliation, it just was a random selection.

 

However, despite your misconstrued logic, I believe our cordial relations, for better or for worse, will survive

[Carafaat]

Xaaji Xunjuf;926830 wrote:

Alpha hates African leaders he even hates the most independent thinking President of Africa President isaias afewerki of Eritrea. Paul Kagame of Rwanda is a reformer to a former rebel but he still drastically change Rwanda.

Alpha, would have wished to become a dictator himself.

[Carafaat]

 

 

Hassan Sheick Mahamud Culusoow, President of Somalia.

[Alpha Blondy]

 

Joyce Hilda Banda née Mtila (born 12 April 1950) is a Malawian politician who has been the President of Malawi since 7 April 2012. She is the founder and leader of the People's Party, created in 2011. An educator and grassroots women's rights activist, she was Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2006 to 2009 and Vice-President of Malawi from May 2009 to April 2012.

 

Banda took office as President following the sudden death of President Bingu wa Mutharika. She is Malawi's fourth president and its first female president. Prior to becoming president, she served as the country's first female vice president. She was also a Member of Parliament and Minister for Gender, Children's Affairs and Community Services.

 

Prior to an active career in politics she was the founder of the Joyce Banda Foundation, founder of the National Association of Business Women (NABW), Young Women Leaders Network and the Hunger Project. Forbes name President Banda as the 71st most powerful woman in the world and the most powerful woman in Africa. Joyce Hilda Ntila was born on 12 April 1950 in Malemia, a village in the Zomba District of Nyasaland (now Malawi).

 

Joyce Banda Foundation

 

Before becoming vice-president, she was the founder and CEO of the Joyce Banda Foundation. for better Education, a charitable foundation that assists Malawian children and orphans through education. It is a complex of primary and secondary schools in the Chimwankhunda area of Blantyre. It includes an orphan care center that consists of six centres and 600 children. It also assists the surrounding villages by providing micro-credit to 40 women and 10 youth groups. It provided seeds to over 10,000 farmers and has provided other donations. The foundation has constructed four clinics in four of the 200 villages it assists. The foundation also assists in rural development. It has a partnership with the Jack Brewer Foundation, a global development foundation founded by NFL star, Jack Brewer.

 

National Association of Business Women

 

Banda is the founder of the National Association of Business Women in Malawi that was established in 1990. It is a registered non-profit foundation in Malawi. The association aims to lift women out of poverty by strengthening their capacity and empowering them economically. This is a social network of 30,000 women, dedicated to supporting women's businesses and supporting women who want to participate in business. Its activities include business training, technical training, record keeping and management skills. They work towards creating dialogue with policymakers to make policies favourable to women business owners. Its current director is Mary Malunga. The foundation has a partnership with the Netherlands-based Humanist Institute for Development Cooperation (Hivos) at The Hague since 2003.

 

Philanthropy and development initiatives

 

Banda has been involved with many grassroots projects with women since the age of 25 to bring about policy change, particularly in education. She founded the Joyce Banda Foundation for Better Education. She founded the Young Women Leaders Network, National Association of Business Women and the Hunger Project in Malawi. She (jointly with President Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique) was awarded the 1997 Africa Prize for Leadership for the Sustainable End of Hunger by the Hunger Project, a New York-based non-governmental organization. She used the prize money to fund the building of the Joyce Banda foundation for children.In 2006, she recevied the International Award for the Health and Dignity of Women for her dedication to the rights of the women of Malawi by the Americans for United Nations Population Fund. She served as commissioner for "Bridging a World Divided" alongside personalities such as Bishop Desmond Tutu, and United Nations Human Rights Commissioner, Mary Robinson.[1] Banda was also member of the Advisory Board for Education in Washington DC, and on the advisory board for the Federation of World Peace and Love in Taiwan (China). As part of a government move on austerity measures in October 2012, Banda cut her salary by 30%. She also announced that the presidential jet would be sold.

 

Global Leaders Council for Reproductive Health

 

In 2010, Banda became a member of the Global Leaders Council for Reproductive Health, a group of sixteen sitting and former heads of state, high-level policymakers and other leaders committed to advancing reproductive health for lasting development and prosperity. Chaired by former President of Ireland Mary Robinson, these leaders seek to mobilize the political will and financial resources necessary to achieve universal access to reproductive health by 2015 – a key target of the UN Millennium Development Goals.

 

Accolades

 

National awards

- Woman of the Year, Malawi, 1997

- Woman of the Year, Malawi, 1998

- Nyasa Times Multimedia 'Person of the Year', 2010

 

International awards

- Martin Luther King Drum Major Award, 2012, Washington DC

- Legends Award for Leadership, 2012, Greater African Methodist Episcopal Church

- Women of Substance Award, 2010, African Women Development Fund

- Africa Prize for Leadership for the Sustainable End of Hunger, 1997, Hunger Project of NY

International award for entrepreneurship development, 1998, Africa Federation of Woman Entrepreneurs and Economic Commission for Africa (ECA)

- 100 Heroines award, 1998, Rochester, New York

- Certificate of Honors, 2001, Federation of World Peace and Love, Taiwan, Republic of China

 

Honors

Most powerful Woman in the World 2012, Forbes Magazine - rank # 71

Most powerful Woman in Africa 2012, Forbes Magazine - rank #1

Most powerful woman in Africa 2011, Forbes Magazine - rank #3

 

FLAG changes under President Joyce Banda

 

On 28 May 2012, under new president Joyce Banda, Parliament voted to revert to the independence flag

 

Malawi's flag was created in 1964 and readopted by MPs in 2012

 

Malawi's unpopular 2010-2012 flag.

[Alpha Blondy]

 

Mohamed Haji Ibrahim Egal was born August 15, 1928 in Odweyne, British Somaliland was a Somali politician. He was the Prime Minister of Somalia during the early and late 1960s. He also served as President of Somaliland, a self-declared republic that is internationally recognized as an autonomous region of Somalia.

 

Early Career as Civilian administration

 

Egal initially worked as an unofficial member of the former British Somaliland protectorate's Executive Council, and was the Leader of Government Business in the Legislative Council.

 

Prime Minister of the State Somaliland (26th June 1960 - 1st of July 1960)

 

For five days in June 1960, he served as the Prime Minister of the briefly-extant State of Somaliland (the former British Somaliland) during its planned transition to union with the Trust Territory of Somalia (the former Italian Somaliland) to form the Somali Republic. Following Somalia's independence on July 1, 1960, Egal became the first national Minister of Defense (1960-1962). In 1962, he left the government to form the opposition Somali National Congress. Two years later he joined the Somali Youth League, the majority party in the government at that point.

 

Somali Republic Prime Minister

 

In 1967, Abdirashid Ali Shermarke was elected President and he appointed Egal as the Prime Minister. He was still the Prime Minister and in Washington D.C. when President Abdirashid Ali Shermarke was assassinated on October 15, 1969. Shortly after the newly-established Supreme Revolutionary Council (SRC) led by Major General Siad Barre, Lieutenant Colonel Salaad Gabeyre Kediye and Chief of Police Jama Korshel seized power. The SRC subsequently renamed the country the Somali Democratic Republic, arrested members of the former civilian government, banned political parties, dissolved the parliament and the Supreme Court, and suspended the constitution.

 

Egal was among the politicians detained by the SRC for his prominent role in the nation's early government. He was eventually released and was named the Ambassador to India (1976-1978) before the Barre regime imprisoned him again on charges of conspiracy until 1985. When the Barre regime eventually collapsed in 1991 with the start of the civil war, local leaders in north Somalia declared the region independent. Although Egal initially opposed their self-proclaimed secession, he was elected president of the new Somaliland polity two years later by a regional council of elders.

 

President of Somaliland

 

During his tenure as President of Somaliland, Egal managed to disarm local rebel groups, stabilized the northwestern Somaliland region's economy, and established informal trade ties with foreign countries. He also introduced the Somaliland shilling, passport and flag. In addition, Egal helped create the Somaliland army, one of the more effective armed forces in Somalia.

 

Throughout his term as president of the Somaliland region, Egal's dedication to the secessionist cause was doubted and challenged by hardliners, particularly within the Somali National Movement (SNM), who believed that he still ultimately hoped to reconcile with other political actors in the rest of Somalia. In August 2001, Egal survived by one vote a motion tabled by several regional MPs charging him of half-heartedly pursuing separatism. In an interview with IRIN the same year, SNM leader Abdirahman Awale also said of Egal that "when he says he is for independence, it is for local consumption only. He tells the people here one thing, but in his speeches elsewhere he has clearly declared that Somalia will unite one day. He says we will talk to the southerners when they make their home clean and negotiate with them... He says one thing to the public, and a different thing to the international community."

 

Death

 

Egal died on May 3, 2002 in Pretoria, South Africa while undergoing surgery at a military hospital. His body was returned to Somalia for a state funeral, whereafter his three sons laid him to rest next to his father, in accordance with his last wishes. Around 4,000 mourners reportedly attended his burial in Berbera, and the regional parliament declared seven days of mourning. However, Somaliland flags did not fly at half-staff since the emblem on them includes the Shahadah, Islam's holiest words. Dahir Rayale Kahin was swore in the next day as the new Somaliland region's president. On May 4, 2013, a large gathering was also held at the Mansoor Hotel in Hargeisa to commemorate the 11 year anniversary of Egal's death.

[Nin-Yaaban]

 

Ismaïl Omar Guelleh (Somali: Ismaaciil Cumar Geelle. Arabic: اسماعيل عُمر جليه) (born 27 November 1947)[1] is the President of Djibouti. Guelleh was anointed as president in 1999 as the handpicked successor to his uncle, Hassan Gouled Aptidon, who had ruled Djibouti since independence 22 years earlier. Gammeh was recently sworn in for a third term as president after he won 80 percent of the vote in a presidential election in April that was largely boycotted by the opposition amid complaints over widespread irregularities. He is often referred to in the region by his initials 'IOG'. Guelleh has been referred to as a dictator, and his rule has been criticized for by some human rights groups.[2]

[Alpha Blondy]

The Power Madness

 

The lust for or obsession with POWER has been the bane of Africa’s post colonial development. They will use every means – fair or foul – to secure it. And once they grab it, they will never let it go da. They will kill or maim to maintain their grip on power for 10, 20 30 or 40 years. Not even bulldozers can dislodge them from power.

 

And what do they do with that power? To develop their countries? Noooo! Ask them to develop their countries and they will develop their pockets. Ask them to seek foreign investment and they will seek a foreign country to invest their loot. Only 3 things they know how to do very well: Loot the treasury, steal/rig elections to perpetuate themselves in office and squelch all opposition or dissent.

 

So lucrative has the presidency become that they have transformed it into their family property. Accordingly, they groom their wives, children, cats, dogs and even goats to succeed them. Power sweet them bad.

 

In many countries, we cannot change our rulers without destroying our countries, We would have been able to save so many African countries from implosions had their leaders been willing to relinquish or share political power: Liberia (1990), Somalia (1991), Rwanda (1994), Zaire (1996), Sierra Leone (1998), Ivory Coast (2011), Egypt (2011), Libya (2011), etc.

 

Even then, after removing that cockroach from power, the next rat comes to do the same thing: From Samuel Doe to Charles Taylor of Liberia; from Mengistu Haile Mariam to Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia; from Hosni Mubarak to Morsi of Egypt, etc.

 

Until we set up a mechanism for peaceful transfer of power, there will be more instability, implosions and failed states. This mechanism exists in only 13 of the 55 African states and in some, it is being debauched or corrupted.

Here are the candidates for implosion: Algeria, Angola, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Congo (Brazzaville), Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania, Rwanda, Uganda, Zimbabwe.

 

The wise learn from the mistakes of others while fools repeat them. ******, on the other hand, repeat their own ****** mistakes.

 

by George Ayittey

 

----

 

interesting read.

 

-----

[Alpha Blondy]

 

Houari Boumedienne served as Algeria's Chairman of the Revolutionary Council from 19 June 1965 until 12 December 1976, and from then on as the second President of Algeria to his death on 27 December 1978.

 

Early Life

 

Mohamed Ben Brahim Boukharouba was born near Héliopolis in the province of Guelma and educated at the Islamic Institute in Constantine. He joined National Liberation Front (FLN) in the Algerian War of Independence in 1955, adopting Houari Boumediène as his nom-de-guerre (from Sidi Boumediène, the name of the patron saint of the city of Tlemcen in western Algeria, where he served as an officer during the war, and Sidi El Houari, the patron saint of nearby Oran). He reached the rank of Colonel, then the highest rank in the FLN forces, and from 1960 he was chief of staff of the ALN, the FLN's military wing. But at this point of the war, the ALN had been defeated and badly hurt by the French operations and Boumediene accepted a difficult command.

 

Post Independence

 

In 1961, after its vote of self-determination, Algerians declared independence and the French announced it was independent. Boumedienne headed a powerful military faction within the government, and was made defence minister by the Algerian leader Ahmed Ben Bella, whose ascent to power he had assisted as chief of staff. He grew increasingly distrustful of Ben Bella's erratic style of government and ideological puritanism, and in June 1965, Boumédienne seized power in a bloodless coup.

 

The country's constitution and political institutions were abolished, and he ruled through a Revolutionary Council of his own mostly military supporters. Many of them had been his companions during the war years, when he was based around the Moroccan border town of Oujda, which caused analysts to speak of the "Oujda Group". (One prominent member of this circle was Boumédienne's long-time foreign minister, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who, since 1999, has been Algeria's president.)

 

Initially, he was seen as potentially a weak ruler, with no significant power base except inside the army, and it was not known to what extent he controlled the officer corps. But after a botched coup against him by military officers in 1967 he tightened his rule. He then remained Algeria's undisputed ruler until his death in 1978, as all potential rivals within the regime were gradually purged or relegated to symbolic posts, including several of his former allies from the Oujda era. No significant internal challenges emerged from inside the regime after the 1967 coup attempt.

 

Domestic Policy

 

Economically, Boumédienne turned away from Ben Bella's focus on rural Algeria and experiments in socialist cooperative businesses (l'autogestion). Instead, he opted for a more systematic and planified programme of state-driven industrialization. Algeria had virtually no advanced production at the time, but in 1971 Boumédienne nationalized the Algerian oil industry, increasing government revenue tremendously (and sparking intense protest from the French government). He then put the soaring oil and gas resources—enhanced by the oil price shock of 1973—into building heavy industry, hoping to make his country the Maghreb's industrial centre. His years in power were in fact marked by a reliable and consistent economic growth, but after his death in the 1980s, the drop in oil prices and increasingly evident inefficiency of the country's state-run industries, prompted a change in policy towards gradual economical liberalization.

 

In the 1970s, along with the expansion of state industry and oil nationalization, Boumédienne declared a series of socialist revolutions, and strengthened the leftist aspect of his regime. A side-effect of this was the rapprochement with the hitherto suppressed remnants of the Algerian Communist Party (the PAGS), whose members were now co-opted into the regime, where it gained some limited intellectual influence, although without formal legalization of their party. Algeria formally remained a single-party state under the FLN, but Boumédienne's personal rule had marginalized the ex-liberation movement, and little attention was paid to the affairs of the FLN in everyday affairs.

 

Pluralism and opposition were not tolerated in Boumédienne's Algeria, which was characterized by government censorship and rampant police surveillance by the powerful Sécurité militaire, or Military Security. Political stability reigned, however, as attempts at challenging the state were generally nipped in the bud. As chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council, Boumediene and his associates ruled by decree. During the 1970s, constitutional rule was gradually reinstated and civilian political institutions were restored and reorganized. Efforts were made to revive activity within the FLN, and state institutions were reestablished systematically, starting with local assemblies and moving up through regional assemblies to the national level, with the election of a parliament. The process culminated with the adoption of a constitution (1976) that laid down Algeria's political structure. This was preceded by a period of relatively open debate on the merits of the government-backed proposal, although the constitution itself was then adopted in a state-controlled referendum with no major changes. The constitution reintroduced the office of president, which Boumedienne entered after a single-candidate referendum in 1978.

 

At the time of his death, later that year, the political and constitutional order in Algeria was virtually entirely of Boumediene's own design. This structure remained largely unchanged until the late 1980s, when political pluralism was introduced and the FLN lost its role as dominant single party. (Many basic aspects of this system and the Boumedienne-era constitution are still in place.) However, throughout Boumedienne's era, the military remained the dominant force in the country's politics, and military influence permeated civilian institutions such as the FLN, parliament and government, undercutting the constitutionalization of the country's politics. Intense financial or political rivalries between military and political factions persisted, and was kept in check and prevented from destabilizing the government mainly by Boumedienne's overwhelming personal dominance of both the civilian and military sphere.

 

Foreign Policy

 

Boumédienne pursued a policy of non-alignment, maintaining good relations with both the communist bloc and the capitalist nations, and promoting third-world cooperation. In the United Nations, he called for a new world order built on equal status for western and ex-colonial nations, and brought about by a socialist-style change in political and trade relations. He sought to build a powerful third world bloc through the Non-Aligned Movement, in which he became a prominent figure. He aggressively supported anti-colonial movements and other militant groups across Africa and the Arab world, including the PLO, ANC, SWAPO and other groups.

 

A significant regional event was his 1975 pledge of support for an Western Saharan self-determination, admitting Sahrawi refugees and the Polisario Front guerrilla national liberation movement to Algerian territory, after Morocco and Mauritania claimed control over the territory. This ended the possibility of mending relations with Morocco, already sour after the 1963 sand war, although there had been a modest thaw in relations during his first time in power. The heightened Moroccan-Algerian rivalry and the still unsolved Western Sahara question became a defining feature of Algerian foreign policy ever since and remain so today.

 

Death

 

In 1978, his appearances became increasingly rare. After lingering in a coma for 39 days, he died of a rare blood disease, Waldenström's macroglobulinemia, following unsuccessful treatment in Moscow. Rumors about his being assassinated or poisoned have surfaced occasionally in Algerian politics, perhaps due to the rarity of the disease. The death of Boumédienne left a power vacuum in Algeria which could not easily be filled; a series of military conclaves eventually agreed to sidestep the competing left- and rightwing contenders, and designate the highest-ranking military officer, Col. Chadli Bendjedid, as a compromise selection. Still, factional intrigue mushroomed after Boumédienne's death, and no Algerian president has since gained the same complete control over the country as he had.

[Alpha Blondy]

Apophis;939811 wrote:

Kenyan First Deputy President William Ruto is currently at the ICC. he's asked the ICC to adjourn his hearing because of the Westgate Mall Attacks. :D Uhuru''I will save the day''Kenyatta will have his much anticipated trial in November, apparently. this is because the Kenyan Constitution doesn't allow a President and a Vice President to be both out of the country at the same time.

 

What will Kenya do when both are convicted for orchestrating the 2007/2008 post election violence?:p

[Alpha Blondy]

Deluded Dictators: African leaders with ridiculous official names

 

 

 

Name: Idi Amin

 

Job description: President of Uganda

 

Years in power: 1971-79

 

Full title: "His Excellency President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Sea, and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular."

 

Megalomania rating: 9.5/10

 

Although his eight-year rule left around 500,000 Ugandans dead and devastated the country’s economy, Idi Amin believed he had been sent by God to be the “hero of Africa”, and the “most powerful figure in the world." The former army commander also offered to become the king of Scotland, and reportedly forced the white citizens of Kampala to carry him around on a throne and kneel before him in front of the world’s press. Amin designated himself ‘President for Life', but his plans were thwarted when he was ousted by Tanzanian and Ugandan troops in 1979, and he spent the remainder of his life in quiet exile in Saudi Arabia.

 

 

 

Name: Jean Bedel Bokassa

 

Job description: Emperor of the Central African Republic

 

Years in power: 1976-79

 

Full title: “His Imperial Majesty Bokassa the First, Emperor of Central Africa by the will of the Central African people, united within the national political party, the Movement for the Social Evolution of Black Africa.”

 

Megalomania rating: 9/10

 

Renowned as Africa’s vainest dictator, Jean Bedel Bokassa was an army colonel who seized power in the Central African Republic and proclaimed himself Emperor, President, Prime Minister, Commander in Chief of the army, and leader of the country’s only political party. Bokassa saw himself as a ‘second Napoleon’ – his lavish $30 million coronation ceremony in 1977 faithfully copied that of the French Emperor – and he was also rumoured to be a cannibal. Bokassa’s extravagant lifestyle stood in marked contrast to the abject poverty of his country, and when he was overthrown by a coup in 1979, jubilant crowds celebrated by tearing down his statue in the capital Bangui.

 

 

 

Name: Mu’ammar al-Gaddafi

 

Job description: Leader of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya

 

Years in power: 1969-2011

 

Full Title: ‘Brotherly Leader of the Great September Revolution’, ‘King of Kings of Africa’

 

Megalomania rating: 9/10

 

Throughout his 42 years in power, Mu’ammar al-Gaddafi cultivated a reputation for eccentricity that made him a figure of international ridicule. The ‘Mad Dog’ insisted he held no official position in the Libyan jamahiriyya, and contented himself with the humble honorifics of ‘Brotherly Leader and Guide of the Revolution’ and ‘King of Kings of Africa’. When a full-scale uprising against his rule began in 2011, Gaddafi denied there was any internal discontent, telling the world’s media “all my people love me”. Within nine months, however, the dictator had been ousted, and died an ignominious death at the hands of an angry mob in Sirte.

 

 

 

Name: Mobuto Sese Seko

 

Job description: President of the Democratic Republic of Congo

 

Years in power: 1965-1997

 

Full Title: ‘The Father of the Nation’, ‘Allconquering Warrior Who Goes From Triumph to Triumph’, ‘The Messiah’, ‘The Redeemer’

 

Megalomania rating: 8.5/10

 

With his signature leopard-skin hat, thick-rimmed glasses and silver-tipped ebony cane, Mobuto Sese Soko was one of post-colonial Africa’s most flamboyant and iconic leaders. He also had an unparalleled reputation for arrogance and greed, amassing a personal fortune of $6.3 billion that was said to match the national debt. In addition to his extensive collection of official titles, Sese Soko demonstrated his megalomania by ensuring that all government correspondence referred to him with a capitalised ‘He’, and insisted that the nightly television news was preceded by an image of him descending god-like from the Heavens.

 

 

 

Name: Haile Selassie I

 

Job description: Emperor of Ethiopia

 

Years in power: 1930-1974

 

Full Title: "His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, King of Kings of Ethiopia, Elect of God"

 

Megalomania rating: 6.5/10

 

Ethiopia’s last emperor, Haile Selassie traced his royal lineage back 3,000 years to the biblical King David. Although he was lauded in the West as a ‘reformer,' Haile Selassie ruled his country with an iron fist for forty-five years, and through his lavish lifestyle became increasingly out of touch with his people. He was guarded round the clock by a coterie of lions, cheetahs and imperial bodyguards, and always referred to himself with the imperial “We”. Selassie was overthrown by a coup in 1974. As he was driven through the streets of Addis Ababa, he was jeered by groups of bystanders, and reportedly asked his driver what people were saying. The driver informed him “they’re shouting ‘thief’ your majesty”. “What do you expect them to call you”, replied Selassie, “when you have robbed them of a king”.

 

 

 

Name: Hastings Banda

 

Job description: President of Malawi

 

Years in power: 1961-1997s

 

Full Title: His Excellency the Life President of the Republic of Malawi (Paramount Chief), Ngwazi Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda ( Ngwazi means “chief of chiefs” or “great lion”).

 

Megalomania rating: 6/10

 

In his trademark three-piece suit, top hat and lion-tail fly whisk, Malawi’s first president Hastings Banda cut an eccentric figure. He outlawed television, banned men from growing long hair and women from wearing trousers, and reportedly decreed that a group of women should dance for him whenever he visited a town or city. Banda complained of loneliness throughout his life, and in a particularly bizarre moment in the early 1970s, banned the Simon and Garfunkle song ‘Cecilia’ because he found the lyrics (“Cecilia, you’re breaking my heart”) too upsetting. In 1994, Banda was overthrown at the age of 96, and died in ignominy three years later.

 

 

 

Name: Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud

 

Job Description: President of the Former Somalia

 

Years in Power: 2012 -

 

Full Title: His Grand Excellency Culusow, Libaax and Eternally Glorious Leader of the Honourable Agitators of Glory and All Militia Hordes of Xamar Caddey

 

Megalomania rating: 7.5/10

 

very little is known off the heinous past of Hassan ''L'Oréal because i'm worth it'' Sheikh Mohamoud before he left his ivory tower to assume the leadership of the world's first failed state. what little is known, prior to 2012, of Somalia's first officially looking President is still remains a mystery. like his kin, the HAG (Honourable Agitators of Glory), President Hassan ''do i look fat in this for my forth coming trip to Washington DC?'' Sheikh Mohamoud, has become an expert in milking the darwasi bowls of the calaamiga folks. less than two years since assuming the HAG throne, President Hassan has amassed a personal fortune of $2.3 million from keynote speeches on the international public speaking circuits - second only to Bill Clinton in 2013. despite acting the role well dressed to impress in his 2 piece suit, HAG president Hassan has built a personality cult based around his desperate need to present himself as the Father of the Nation. fronted by his two wives, who accompany Sheikh Mohamoud on his international travels, the Presidential family has clocked up 15,000 air miles in 2013 alone. whats more, if you also factor in the number of close aides and confidantes (all HAG), collecting ShebaMilles air miles, it culminates in the HAG using up 87% of all air miles in the Former Somalia since 2012. nationally hailed as a failure and international praised for his 'nomad diplomacy' (traveling diplomacy), President Dr. Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud plays hide and seek behind the high walls of Villa Somalia, guarded by AMISOM troops, when not travelling internationally.

 

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http://raseef22.com/News-Detail/155/Deluded-Dictators-Ten-world-leaders-with-ridiculous-official-names#.UlB_6zCQZGR

 

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interesting.