It is often a tactic to gain the military's support. Though Angola is rich in oil and diamonds, most of its 32 million people live in poverty.Īs in Angola, the governments of many countries have included the military "in corrupt practices to keep them happy and to keep them in line," Basedau said. Though Lourenco's government has since removed Dias from powerful positions following the departure of former dos Santos, the general has been able to keep his wealth. General Manuel Helder Vieira Dias Jr., nicknamed "Kopelipa," for instance, was estimated in 2014 to be worth $3 billion (€2.64 billion). Such an arrangement offered an opportunity to those well placed to get rich quickly. In Angola, some top combatants were compensated for the fight for independence from Portugal and their participation in the ensuing decades of civil war. "Once the genie is released from the bottle, it's hard to put it back in," Basedau said. Owing to Africa's colonial history, the military in many countries assumed a political role from the start. Rwandan troops have been praised for helping to quell an Islamic uprising in northern Mozambique Image: Jean Bizimana/REUTERS The army as a political actor The president is also trying to dismantle a system of patronage put in place by his long-serving predecessor, Jose Eduardo dos Santos. In Angola, several high-ranking army officers were detained and sued for embezzlement in 2021 in an anti-corruption drive launched by President Joao Lourenco. The lack of financial resources in the country means that the military and other state actors are all competing for a very small slice of the pie," Tian said. Russia, a country of 140 million, has more than 1 million soldiers.Īfrican armies are also associated with a lack of transparency and corruption. But, with more than 150 million inhabitants, it has a comparatively modest number of 200,000 enlisted personnel. Nigeria, for example, has the second biggest sub-Saharan army after South Africa. "Both the relative number of personnel per inhabitants and the relative size of the budgets for the military are small in Africa in general," said Matthias Basedau, director of the GIGA Institute for African Affairs in Hamburg. There is also a perception that African armies are outsize and eat up too much of the state budgets. In general, African militaries are not like this." One example is the Rwandan army, which has won international respect for its discipline and efficiency. "This is, however, a false representation. Some armies are accused of corruption and misuse of resources, Nan Tian, a senior researcher at SIPRI, told DW. The reasons are manifold, including underfunding, which is often revealed when armies need to combat insurgents, as seen in Nigeria and Mozambique. In addition, armies are to blame for military coups backed by political actors, as happened in Mali, Guinea, and Sudan. Many African armies suffer from a bad reputation. They are often poorly trained and ineffective. This places African armies at the center of events - and under scrutiny. According to a study by the Stockholm-based International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), out of a total of 49 sub-Saharan African states, at least 20 were involved in some armed conflict in 2020.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |