Page 49 - The Economist

The Economist December 9th 2017 Middle East and Africa 49
2 dans are opposed to the bill that would let That creates jobs, to be given out in ex-
him run again, accordingto an Afrobarom- change for loyalty. But it also starves the
eter poll taken in September. Yet it is being restofgovernmentofmoney.Public-sector
rammed through. doctors held a strike in November, de-
When the bill first came to parliament, manding a tenfold increase in their sala-
troops had to pull brawling politicians off ries, currently starting at $308 per month.
each other. When it returns for its second Prosecutors are also striking, and nurses THE NIGERIA
GAMBIA
reading, itissure to pass, butonly thanksto may follow. Local government has been
LIBERIA
a campaign of bribery. MPs have openly crumbling for years. As services decline, CAMEROON UGANDA
been paid 29m shillings ($8,120) each to that in turn fuels angerat the government. CONGO-BRAZZAVILLE CONGO
“consult” on the bill; the sums paid under Eventually, patronage strangles the
the table could be far higher. And parlia- economy—and shadowy violent sources ANGOLA
ment is relatively pliable, says Bernard Ta- of power grow more important than the Age of political leaders NAMIBIA ZIMBABWE
baire, a Ugandan political analyst. Most formal state. Already, more people are be- Sub-Saharan Africa
Dec 2017
MPs enter it with extravagant debts and ing arrested. Kizza Besigye, Uganda’s main Years
SOUTH
lessthanhalfholdtheirseatsformorethan opposition leader, was at one point was 50 60 70 80 AFRICA
one term. That means many can be bought charged with treason. The editors of Red Source: The Economist
offrathercheaply. Pepper, a newspaper, were arrested on No-
As Mr Museveni’s popularity declines, vember 21st, and remain in prison for pub- seem to be becomingmore common.
the payoffs needed to keep him in power lishing an article suggesting Mr Museveni Although violence can work for a
grow. Since 2002, the number of districts wants to overthrow his counterpart Paul while, oppressive states that are running
has more than doubled; the number of Kagame ofRwanda. Protestshave been put out of money are rarely stable. In Gambia
“traditional” monarchies has grown too. downwithgunfire.Politicalassassinations in January, Yahya Jammeh, who had been
presidentfor22years,lostanelection,tried
Ethiopia to stay on, and was forced out by the threat
of military intervention from Gambia’s
Nostalgia for the Derg neighbours. Mr Mugabe was toppled by a
coup. How long might Mr Museveni sur-
vive? Unlike some other despots, he is
AMBO seemingly still healthy and works long
Some Ethiopians fondlyremembera murderous and incompetentregime
hours—indeed, he micromanages almost
N AMBO, a town in central Ethiopia, a the Tigrayan minority. Afterbouts of every decision. Uganda’s economy,
Iteenage boy pulls a tatty photo from his ethnic violence, most alarmingly this though slowing,isstillfarfrombust.Buthe
wallet. “I love him,” he says ofthe soldier year, many now lookbackfondly on Mr seems to have no plan for succession. If he
glaringmenacingly at the camera. “And I Mengistu’s pan-Ethiopian nationalism. doesn’t make one, a crisis will eventually
love socialism,” he adds. In the picture is “The general perception is that what- come. What then? Ugandans watching
a youngMengistu Haile Mariam, the everthe Dergdid was out oflove for the events in Zimbabwe are wondering. 7
dictatorwhose Marxist regime, the Derg, country,” explains Befekadu Hailu, a
oversaw the “Red Terror” ofthe1970s and human-rights activist, who is himself no
the famine-inducingcollapse ofEthio- fan. MrMengistu fought a victorious war Arab international relations
pia’s economy in the1980s. MrMengistu against Somalia in the1970s, and waged a
was toppled byrebels in1991before homicidal campaign against secession- The Gulf
fleeingto Zimbabwe, where he still lives. ists in Eritrea, then a region ofEthiopia,
He was latersentenced to death, in ab- formore than a decade. The EPRDF,in Backbiting Council
sentia, forgenocide. contrast, oversaw the loss ofEritrea and
But the octogenarian warcriminal with it access to the sea when it allowed
seems to be growingin popularity back an independence referendum in1993. DUBAI AND DOHA
Asummitmeantto end a diplomatic
home, especially in towns and among The Derg’s policies were ruinous: crisis ends with more division
those too youngto rememberthe misery nationalisingalmost every firm; forcing
ofhis rule. When Meles Zenawi, then peasants at gunpoint onto collective VERYONE knew this year’s summit of
prime minister, died in 2012, a social- farms, where they starved. MrMengistu Ethe Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC)
media campaign called forMrMengistu was also more brutal than any Ethiopian would be contentious. But the envoys
to return. In the protests that have swept rulerbefore orafter. But the EPRDF is barely had time fora cup oftea. Since June,
through towns like Ambo since 2014, strugglingto win the hearts ofordinary three out of six GCC members (Saudi Ara-
chants of“Come, come Mengistu!” have Ethiopians. Its heavy-handed propagan- bia, the United Arab Emiratesand Bahrain)
been heard amongthe demonstrators. da—which includes ideological “training” have blockaded a fourth (Qatar), cutting
Asked by Afrobarometer, a pollster, forstudents and civil servants, and an tiesand trade until itstopsbacking Islamist
how democratic theircountry is, Ethiopi- annual celebration ofits victory over the groups. Kuwait, the host, hoped to use the
ans give it 7.4 out of10. They give the Derg Derg—are widely met with contempt. summit on December 5th to broker a sol-
regime a 1. Yet even some ofthose old “When you have no hope forthe ution. “We believe that wisdom will pre-
enough to rememberlife underMarxism future you go backand try to find some vail,” said the emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ah-
are givingin to nostalgia, admits a mid- light in the past,” says Hassen Hussein, an mad al-Sabah, at the opening.
dle-aged professorat Addis Ababa Uni- activist who now lives abroad. The coun- His optimism lasted about 15 minutes
versity. The coalition that ousted the try’s most popularmusician is Teddy before he emerged from a closed-door
Derg, the Ethiopian People’s Revolu- Afro, a 41-year-old whose songs celebrate meeting and abruptly ended the confer-
tionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), in- Ethiopia’s formeremperors and its feudal ence, which was meant to last two days.
troduced a system ofethnically based past. The rulingparty has yet to come up The Kuwaitis felt snubbed: though Qatar
federalism in 1995 that critics say favours with such a catchy tune. sent its emir, other members dispatched
mere cabinet ministers. Hours before the 1