Coups and the clowns they propel to power

Doe’s first act when he took power was to parade almost the entire Cabinet — naked — on a Monrovia beach where they were summarily executed.

They included the head of state at the time, president William Tolbert.

On his part Gambia President Yahya Jammeh, who came to power in a 1994 coup, claims to have a cure for HIV/Aids, and he devotes one day in a week to “treating” people who have been infected — it is all a hoax but nobody dares say solest they be jailed.

The Samuel Does and Yahya Jammehs tend to come in promising short, temporary stays in power as they clean up the messes of those they ousted.

But once in office, they like the trappings so much that soon they organise plebiscites, which in most cases are rigged, to legitimise their stay in power.

Now Camara has increasingly been suggesting in public that it is his “right” to contest the presidency in elections his junta had scheduled for January.

The recent massacres may complicate this self-driven transition.

France, the former colonial power, has cut military and other forms of co-operation with the country and has indicated it will draw in other European partners.

Meanwhile, Guinea remains suspended by both the Africa Union and the regional grouping Ecowas from the time of the December coup.

The contemporary pressure for clean and democratic government in Africa and elsewhere also leaves hope that Camara won’t get the latitude for complete misrule like Sergeant Doe could get away with at an earlier era.

For the generation that was around during the early years of African independence, Guinea is remembered as the country that was led to freedom in 1958 by one of the icons of African nationalism: Ahmed Sekou Toure.

Almost alone among former French colonies, Toure’s Guinea refused all aid from France if it came tied to any strings.

After Ghana’s founder Kwame Nkurumah was overthrown in the 60s, Toure gave him a home in Guinea and protected him till his death.