African powder Keg : revolt and dissent in six emergent Nations

Stating the ProblemThe life of an African head of state or premier could not becalled a particularly secure existence as 1965 passed on its way.The three years that had just gone by had seen a series of coupsd'etat or plots or political murders directed against the localregimes reported from more than twenty African states, or wellover half the independent countries of the continent. TheAugust 1963 Congo (Brazzaville) rising led to the overthrow ofPresident Fulbert Youlou, and the October 1963 Dahomeydemonstrations to the eviction from the Presidency of MrHubert Maga. In the December 1962 plot in Tunisia, PresidentBourguiba owed his life, if the official version is correct, to acertain amount of luck, President Nyerere disappeared fromcirculation for twenty-four hours during the January 1964mutiny in Tanganyika, while the August 1962 plot in Ghanainvolved an attempt on the life of President Nkrumah, a newbid to assassinate whom was reported in 1964. Nor was thereany sign of a halt in the succession of incidents: it was rare fora quarter to pass without a new one hitting the headlines of theworld press. The close of 1964 saw the public execution in theRepublic of Niger of four members of the banned Sawabaopposition party, which had launched an insurrection. Theopening of 1965 witnessed the assassination of the Premierof Burundi, whose predecessor in office was promptly arrestedon suspicion of complicity, and an Algiers court’s sentencing ofAit Ahmed, one of the nine ‘historic leaders’ who had launchedthe seven-year war of liberation against the French, for mount¬ing a rebellion against his former companion in captivity,President Ben Bella; in June, Ben Bella himself was overthrownby a military coup, while, in August, President Nasser announcedthe discovery in Egypt of a large-scale plot against his regime.The regular succession of acts of violence calls to mind theobservation credited to the then Brazilian Emperor when hevisited the Philadelphia exposition in 1876:...