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D
RIVING HOME
from the
office here in West
Africa o ne evening,
shortly after dark, I saw
a car in front of us suddenly do
a U-turn on a major road.
Why do people drive like man–
iacs? 1 thought, as the other
driver shouted out, "Fool!"
l
soon saw why.
Suddenly, the road carne to an
end. An army. truck blocked all fur–
ther progress and seven soldiers were
running around in an
obvious panic. I braked to
ence of a coup. There had been
otbers and tbere would be more.
Altbough ours was the only inci–
dent involving foreigners reported
in this particular disturbance,
hundreds of local citizens were
kj!led and mucb anxiety caused to
thousands. And all to no avail- the
coup attempt failed.
Worldwide lnstability
Coups are endemic to the Afr ican
continent and all too familiar in
other parts of the world, notably
Soutb America.
ties and greater damage result
wben a government still has sup–
port. Various factions can figbt for
hours, or even days, befare anyone
has complete control.
Military coups d'etat are one
human way of changing govern–
ments. Democracies change gov–
ernments tbrough tbe ballot, sorne
countries tbrougb the bullet.
One effect of sudden, víolent
change is economic chaos.
Here in Africa, the extent of a
country's economic problems is
often directly proportional to the
number of coups and
attempted coups ít has
a halt. A soldier, shaking
and panicky, thrust hís
standard submachine gun
in our window, ready to
shoot. Our hearts j umped
and adrenaline flowed as
we momentarily expected
ComingSoon!
bad to endure. Foreign
investors shy away from
politically unstable coun–
tries . Essential skilled
expatriate workers from
to be blasted ínto the res–
urrection.
Jn the panic of the
moment, we don 't even
remember what the soldier
said . All we remember was
beíng forced out of our car
at gunpoint. The trunk was
opened and checked for
guns-all the while,
threats of instant death
were being mouthed at us.
By now, there were three
of them attending us. Cars
bebind us were all wisely
doing U-turns, preferring
an accident to possible
death at tbe hands of trig–
ger-bappy soldiers.
Suddenly, another sol-
dier appeared. "Let them go," was
his command. He repeated tbe
words, "Let tbem go, I tell you!"
And we were free to go.
As we drove away, my foot began
to shake. 1 lost control of the clutcb.
My wife and three cbildren were
beyond tbat army truck. How was I
going to get borne? Wbat was going
on? Street battles between various
factions of the country's military?
Another coup?
It took a wbile to get borne, along
back streets so as to avoid furtber
roadblocks, but we made it- to find
my family unaware of the events.
Quick pbone calls to friends con–
firmed anotber coup was
in
prog–
ress. Tbis wasn't our first experi-
May 1983
THE
FINAL
COUP
by
Melvin Rhodes
A coup (pronounced koo, tbe
shortened form of coup d'etat) is a
French word defined in Cassell's
Englisb dictionary as "a sudden
and violent change of government,
especially of an illegal and revolu–
tionary nature." Coups are usually
led by factions of a nation's mili–
tary.
For every successful coup, there
are two or three unsuccessful ones.
Attempted coups, resulting in no
change of government, often go
unreported in the press, yet tbey
can be more bloody than a success–
ful coup. When a government is
extremely unpopular, an attempt to
overthrow it will usually succeed
witb little bloodsbed. More casual-
technologically more ad–
vanced Western nations
become too afraid of incí–
dents like tbat recorded
above. Economic life is
disrupted by curfews tbat
close factoríes and offices,
soldiers that loot busi–
nesses, and by rapid
changes in economic poli–
cy . Local businessmen
fear their assets being
seized by a new govern–
ment, so tbey keep much
needed investment money
in overseas banks, where
it does notbing to develop
the Third World.
And, perhaps worst of
all, how many soldiers
coming up through the
ranks are really qualified
to rule a modern nation, to deter–
mine economic, foreign and social
policy? Soldiers are trained
fighters, not economists or diplo–
mats. (Although sometimes tbey
· can provide the discipline necessary
to help the technocrats run the gov–
ernment.)
Coups are not a new phenome–
non
in
the world.
In the days of the European
monarcbies, it was usually a family
member or court official who
would seize the crown in a coup. In
ancient Israel, King David foiled a
coup attempt by bis own son Absa–
lom, a man he had only recently
welcomed back to bis palace with
forgiveness and fatberly love-to
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