After twenty seven years, President Blaise Compaoré wanted to extend his stay in office as the president of Burkina Faso. He had stayed this long mostly by carefully effecting many of the survival strategies African leaders are known for – including summary arrest and execution of opponents, the weakening of institutions, encouraging unhealthy ethnic, religious and sectional competition and by being a poodle to their colonial masters and other hegemons.
Unfortunately for Blaise Compaoré – and fortunately for the people of Burkina Faso, he overplayed his hands this time. He wanted a national plebiscite that would have allowed him to stay in office beyond 2015. His party, the Congress for Democracy and Progress (Congrès pour la Démocratie et le Progrès, CDP), was about to see this through when the opposition and the general populace revolted. He responded, first, by being dismissive of the protesters and the opposition; and then by wanting to dictates the terms of disengagement.
He was corky! And why not? After all, this was a man who staged a coup in 1983 and again in 1987 and who went on to outsmart his civilian opponents in the 1991, 1998 and 2005 elections; and then in 2011, survived a mutiny by his bodyguards. He appeared to be better than cats with nine lives. But not this time! The opposition, the people and the military saw to that. In the end, his master, the French, came to his rescue by smuggling him out his country. As with many despots before him, he is likely to find a home in France.
But unfortunately for the people of Burkina Faso, his removal and exile led to anarchy and uncertainty. For a brief period, no one was sure who was in charge. Within days however, Lieutenant Colonel Yacouba Isaac Zida, announced to his people and the international community that he was the man in charge. By so doing, he sidelined General Honoré Nabéré Traoré — an ally of and former aide-de-camp to Compaoré. This move, along with the fact that a consensus candidate of the opposition was not allowed as the acting president, worsened an already chaotic situation.
Sensing that the situation may get out of control, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) — a regional group of “fifteen countries, founded in 1975 to promote peace and security and economic integration” stepped in to neutralize the worsening situation. It did so by dispatching three presidents: John Dramani Mahama of Ghana, Macky Sall of Senegal and Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria to Ouagadougou to hold talks with the opposition and the self-proclaimed Acting President, Colonel Isaac Zida.
The inclusion of and the fact that President Jonathan made the trip angered many Nigerians. Their anger is based on a simple and single premise: Why would a president, who is unable to put his house in order, attempt to put another chaotic house in order?
For upward of three years, the terrorist organization (Boko Haram), has been killing and maiming Nigerians without adequate and effective response from and by the president. More than 100,000 innocent civilians have been killed and maimed and displaced. And just as Ouagadougou was boiling, Mubi, the second largest town in Adamawa state, was burning. The group had overrun and renamed the town “Madinatul Islam” — the City of Islam.
Nigerians needed the president to solve this pressing national security problem, but what did he do? At the behest of ECOWAS, he made a diplomatic trip to Burkina Faso.
President Goodluck Jonathan was right in answering ECOWAS’ call to duty. He was right in making the trip. Could he have sent his Foreign Minister along with his National Security Adviser or Minister of Defense? Perhaps! But in times like this, a strong and unambiguous statement needed to be made. Perception matters. Burkinabe needed to know that their neighbors and partners and friends are with them in their hours of need.
The presence of the three presidents calmed nerves. That the Nigerian president was there was a huge boost in terms of image and message and symbol. In regional and international politics, all three matters. Power and power projection also means a whole lot. And so the message was clear: First, Burkina Faso matters; second, there will be no leadership vacuum; third, there will be no room for terror organizations and other violent non-state actors; and fourth, the region and Burkinabe prefers a smooth and orderly transition.
And because the military has a way of staying in power longer than expected, there was the need to send very clear message as to when they must leave and allow liberal democracy and elected officials to return to power. Again, Jonathan and his colleagues could have delegated the assignment to others; but in this instance, there was no better way than their presence – especially the presence of the Nigerian president.
Yes, President Jonathan ought to pay more attention to the Boko Hara problem. And yes Nigeria has other pressing problems that need his attention. Well, the fact is that none of that would suffer or deteriorate because of a trip cum consultation that took less than 12 hours.
This president, as with other presidents within and outside of the continent, is needed at home and abroad. In other words, Jonathan has both domestic and international obligations. Put another way, nation-states have duties and obligations that transcend their borders. That’s the way the global system works. What the Nigerian president did was a fulfillment of that duty and commitment. What’s more, if ECOWAS had not sent in its big-dogs, they would have inadvertently created room for France and other imperial powers to play undeserved roles.
Africans must learn how to solve their problems in a timely manner. For once, at least, ECOWAS made the right call – and so did President Jonathan. For this he deserves our praise, not criticisms.
Now, if the timing of the trip is what angers the vast majority of those who are voicing their displeasure, well, there is really nothing wrong with his timing. While he could reasonably go to Ouagadougou, he could not be reasonably expected to go to Mubi, Adamawa State. While his presence made a lot of difference with Colonel Isaac Zida and the military junta, same could not be said of Boko Haram and their fellow travelers.
The trip is a win-win for the West African sub-region, and for the President. This will become apparent when normalcy and liberal democracy return to Burkina Faso. Jonathan deserves our applause!
