Biography
Top 10 Most Ruthless African Dictators and How They Came Into Power
A dictatorship is a form of government in which one person or an oligarchy possesses absolute power without effective constitutional checks.
It is one of the chief forms of government in use today.
Authoritarian government has dominated the post-war history of independent Africa. Despite the wide use of the democratic system of government on the continent, many elected presidents still act as dictators.
In no particular order, below are twenty(20) ruthless African dictators, their year of rein and how they came into power:
11. Gnassingbé Eyadéma (Togo)
Gnassingbé Eyadéma, real name Étienne Gnassingbé was a Togolese military officer and politician who was the president of Togo from 1967 until his death in 2005, after which he was immediately succeeded by his son, Faure Gnassingbé.
Eyadéma participated in two successful military coups, in January 1963 and January 1967, and became president on 14 April 1967. His rule was characterized by authoritarianism, corruption, and human rights abuses. He was accused of silencing political opponents, rigging elections, and torturing detainees.
Despite his repressive rule, Eyadéma was a popular figure among many Togolese people. He was seen as a strong leader who had brought stability to the country after a period of political turmoil. He also oversaw a period of economic growth and development.
Eyadéma died suddenly of a heart attack on 5 February 2005, while on his way to France for medical treatment. He was the longest-serving head of state in Africa at the time of his death.
Eyadéma’s legacy is a complex one. He is credited with bringing stability and economic development to Togo, but he is also remembered for his authoritarian rule and human rights abuses.
10. Hastings Kamuzu Banda (Malawi)
Banda was born in Kasungu, Malawi, to a poor family. He studied medicine in Scotland and practiced as a doctor in London before returning to Malawi in 1958. He quickly rose to prominence in Malawian politics and led the Malawi Congress Party to victory in the 1964 elections.
Banda declared Malawi a republic in 1966 and became its first president. He ruled Malawi for 31 years, establishing a one-party dictatorship. Banda’s rule was characterized by repression, corruption, and human rights abuses. He was accused of silencing political opponents, rigging elections, and torturing detainees.
Banda was also known for his eccentric personality and his flamboyant dress sense. He was often seen wearing traditional Malawian dress, but he also had a fondness for European suits and hats. He was also known for his fondness for classical music and his love of opera.
Banda’s rule came to an end in 1994, when he was defeated in a multi-party election. He died in 1997 at the age of 91.
Banda’s legacy is a complex one. He is credited with bringing stability to Malawi after a period of political turmoil, but he is also remembered for his authoritarian rule and human rights abuses.
9. Charles Taylor (Liberia)
Taylor was born in Arthington, Liberia, to a Liberian-American father and a Gola mother. He attended Cuttington University College in Liberia, but dropped out to pursue a career in politics. In 1980, Taylor was arrested and charged with treason for attempting to overthrow the government of Samuel Doe. He escaped from prison and fled to the United States, where he lived in exile for several years.
In 1989, Taylor returned to Liberia and launched a civil war against Doe’s government. Taylor’s rebel group, the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), was supported by neighboring countries, including Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire. In 1990, Doe was captured and killed by Taylor’s forces.
The Liberian civil war ended in 1996 with the signing of a peace agreement. Taylor was elected president of Liberia in 1997. However, his presidency was marked by corruption and human rights abuses. Taylor was accused of supporting rebel groups in neighboring Sierra Leone and Côte d’Ivoire in exchange for diamonds.
In 2003, Taylor was forced to resign from the presidency and flee Liberia under international pressure.
He was arrested in Nigeria in 2006 and extradited to Sierra Leone to face trial for war crimes. In 2012, Taylor was convicted of aiding and abetting war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder, rape, and sexual slavery. He was sentenced to 50 years in prison.
Taylor’s conviction was the first for a former head of state by an international tribunal since the Nuremberg trials of Nazi leaders after World War II. It was a major victory for international justice and a message to world leaders that they are not above the law.
8. Muammar al-Gadaffi (Libya)
Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi was a Libyan revolutionary, politician and political theorist who ruled Libya from 1969 until his assassination in 2011 by rebel forces.
He first served as Revolutionary Chairman of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977 and then as the Brotherly Leader of the Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from 1977 to 2011.
Initially ideologically committed to Arab nationalism and Arab socialism, Gaddafi later ruled according to his own Third International Theory.
Gaddafi was born near Sirte, Italian Libya, to a poor Bedouin Arab family. He became an Arab nationalist while at school in Sabha, later enrolling in the Royal Military Academy, Benghazi.
Within the military, he founded a revolutionary group which deposed the Western-backed Senussi monarchy of Idris I in a 1969 coup.
Having taken power, Gaddafi converted Libya into a republic governed by his Revolutionary Command Council. Ruling by decree, he deported Libya’s Italian population and ejected its Western military bases.
Gaddafi’s rule was characterized by authoritarianism, corruption, and human rights abuses. He was accused of silencing political opponents, rigging elections, and torturing detainees.
He also pursued a number of eccentric and controversial policies, such as his promotion of his own political philosophy, the Green Book, and his establishment of a “revolutionary” women’s militia known as the Amazonian Guard.
Despite his repressive rule, Gaddafi was a popular figure among many Libyans. He was seen as a strong leader who had brought stability to the country after a period of political turmoil. He also oversaw a period of economic growth and development.
Gaddafi’s rule came to an end in 2011, when he was overthrown and killed during the Libyan Civil War. He was captured and lynched by rebel forces in Sirte on 20 October 2011.
Gaddafi’s legacy is a complex one. He is credited with bringing stability and economic development to Libya, but he is also remembered for his authoritarian rule and human rights abuses. He remains a controversial figure in both Libya and the wider world.
7. Mohammed Siad Barre (Somalia)
Mohamed Siad Barre was third president of Somalia who held dictatorial rule over the country from October 1969, when he led a bloodless military coup against the elected government, until January 1991, when he was overthrown in a bloody civil war.
Siad was born about 1919 (or earlier) into a nomadic family in the small Marehan clan of the Daarood clan group in Italian Somaliland.
He joined the Somali police force after the British took control of the country in 1941 and rose to the post of chief inspector.
When Somalia was returned to Italian sovereignty in 1950, Siad was sent to the military academy in Italy.
He transferred to the Somali national army when it was formed (1960), and by 1966 he held the rank of major general and had become commander in chief.
After seizing power on Oct. 22, 1969, Siad made himself head of a Supreme Revolutionary Council and imposed autocratic rule through a personality cult and the harsh enforcement of an official ideology called “Scientific Socialism.”
Part of Barre’s time in power was characterized by oppressive dictatorial rule, including persecution, jailing and torture of political opponents and dissidents.
The United Nations Development Programme stated that “the 21-year regime of Siyad Barre had one of the worst human rights records in Africa.”
In January 1990, the Africa Watch Committee, a branch of Human Rights Watch organizational released an extensive report titled “Somalia A Government At War with Its Own People” composing of 268 pages, the report highlights the widespread violations of basic human rights in the northern regions of Somalia.
The report includes testimonies about the killing and conflict in northern Somalia by newly arrived refugees in various countries around the world.
6. Hissene Habre (Chad)
Hissène Habré was a Chadian dictator who ruled from 1982 to 1990. He was responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of his own people and was convicted of crimes against humanity, war crimes, and torture by an international tribunal in 2016.
Habré was born in Chad to a poor family. He joined the Chadian National Liberation Army (Frolinat) in the 1960s and fought against the French colonial government. After independence, Habré became a prominent figure in the Chadian government. In 1982, he led a successful coup against President Goukouni Oueddei and became president himself.
Habré’s rule was characterized by brutality and repression. He established a secret police force known as the Documentation and Security Directorate (DDS), which was responsible for the torture and execution of thousands of Chadians. Habré also targeted specific ethnic groups, such as the Zaghawa and Hadjerai.
In 1990, Habré was overthrown by a rebel army led by Idriss Déby. He fled to Senegal, where he lived in exile for over two decades. In 2013, Habré was arrested in Senegal and charged with crimes against humanity. He was convicted in 2016 and sentenced to life in prison. Habré died in prison in 2021.
Habré’s conviction was a landmark moment for international justice. It was the first time that an African head of state had been convicted of crimes against humanity by an international tribunal. Habré’s conviction also sent a message to other dictators that they are not above the law.
Habré’s crimes were horrific and his legacy is one of brutality and repression. However, his conviction was a victory for justice and a reminder that even the most powerful dictators can be held accountable for their crimes.
He died at the age of 79 years in 2021 while serving a life term in Senegal for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Habre died of COVID-19 in Dakar’s main hospital after he fell ill in jail and was taken to a clinic in the capital before being moved to the Hospital Principal, where he died.
5. Omar Al-Bashir (Sudan)
Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir was a Sudanese military officer who led a revolt that overthrew the elected government of Sudan in 1989.
Bashir was born into a peasant family that later moved to Khartoum, where he received his secondary education; he then joined the army. He studied at a military college in Cairo and fought in 1973 with the Egyptian army against Israel. Returning to Sudan, he achieved rapid promotion, and in the mid-1980s he took the leading role in the Sudanese army’s campaign against the rebels of the southern Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA).
Bashir, frustrated with the country’s leadership, led a successful coup in 1989. He became chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council for National Salvation, which ruled the country. Bashir dissolved the parliament, banned political parties, and strictly controlled the press. He was supported by Hasan al-Turabi, a Muslim extremist and leader of the National Islamic Front (NIF). Together they began to Islamize the country, and in March 1991 Islamic law (Shar??ah) was introduced. This move further emphasized the division between the north and the mainly animist and Christian south.
He served as president of Sudan from 1993 until 2019, when he was ousted in a military coup.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) charged him with five counts of crimes against humanity: murder, extermination, forcible transfer, torture, and rape; two counts of war crimes: intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population as such or against individual civilians not taking part in hostilities, and pillaging; three counts of genocide: by killing, by causing serious bodily or mental harm, and by deliberately inflicting on each target group conditions of life calculated to bring about the group’s physical destruction, allegedly committed at least between 2003 and 2008 in Darfur, Sudan.
4. Sekou Toure (Guinea)
Sekou Toure (1922-1984) was a Guinean politician who served as the first president of Guinea from 1958 to 1984. He was a leading figure in the African independence movement and was known for his anti-colonial and socialist views.
Toure was born in Faranah, French Guinea, to a poor family. He joined the French colonial army in 1941 and quickly rose through the ranks. In 1945, he founded the Democratic Party of Guinea (PDG), which became the leading political party in the country.
In 1958, Guinea voted for independence from France. Toure was elected as the first president of the newly independent country. He immediately declared Guinea a socialist state and began to nationalize the country’s economy. He also expelled all French citizens from Guinea.
Toure’s rule was characterized by authoritarianism and human rights abuses. He suppressed political opposition and dissent, and he was accused of torture and extrajudicial killings. He also pursued a number of eccentric and controversial policies, such as his promotion of the Guinean language, Susu, and his establishment of a cult of personality around himself.
Toure’s rule came to an end in 1984, when he died of a heart attack. He was succeeded by his prime minister, Lansana Conté.
Toure’s legacy is a complex one. He is credited with leading Guinea to independence and with promoting African unity. However, he is also remembered for his authoritarian rule and human rights abuses. He remains a controversial figure in Guinea and in the wider world.
3. Jean-Bedel Bokassa (Central African Republic)
Jean-Bédel Bokassa was a longtime dictator and military leader of the Central African Republic.
He served as the second president of the Central African Republic (CAR) and as the emperor of its successor state, the Central African Empire (CAE), from the Saint-Sylvestre coup d’état on 1 January 1966 until his overthrow in a subsequent coup in 1979.
He was born in Bobangui, Oubangui-Chari, French Equatorial Africa (present-day Central African Republic) on February 22, 1921.
Bokassa’s father, a village chief of the Mbaka people, was murdered in November 1927 for refusing to provide labor from his village as required under French colonial rule.
A week later, his mother committed suicide and Bokassa, aged 6, became an orphan. Missionnaries took in Bokassa and raised him until he joined the French colonial army in 1939, at the beginning of World War II.
He then took part in the 1944 landings in Provence, France, and subsequently served with the French Army in Indochina and Algeria.
A skilled soldier, Bokassa rose to the rank of captain. He also won the Legion d’Honneur, the highest French military decoration and the Croix de Guerre, which was presented to soldiers who distinguished themselves in combat.
2. Sani Abacha (Nigeria)
Sani Abacha (1943-1998) was a Nigerian military dictator who ruled from 1993 to 1998. He was a brutal and corrupt leader who is remembered for his human rights abuses and his plundering of the country’s resources.
Abacha was born in Kano, Nigeria, in 1943. He joined the Nigerian army in 1963 and rose through the ranks to become a general. In 1993, he seized power in a coup d’état and became the head of state of Nigeria.
Abacha’s rule was characterized by repression and corruption. He cracked down on dissent and jailed his political opponents. He also oversaw a massive looting of the country’s treasury, amassing a personal fortune of billions of dollars.
Abacha died suddenly in 1998 under mysterious circumstances. He was succeeded by General Abdulsalami Abubakar, who oversaw a transition to democracy in 1999.
Abacha’s legacy is one of brutality and corruption. He is remembered as one of the most repressive dictators in Nigerian history.
1. Idi Amin Dada (Uganda)
Idi Amin Dada was a Ugandan military officer and politician who served as the third president of Uganda from 1971 to 1979.
He ruled as a military dictator and is considered one of the most brutal despots in modern world history.
Amin was born in Koboko, Uganda, in 1925. He joined the King’s African Rifles of the British colonial army in 1946. He rose to the rank of lieutenant, taking part in British actions against Somali rebels and then the Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya.
After Uganda gained independence in 1962, Amin remained in the Ugandan army and rose to the rank of major general. In 1971, he staged a coup d’état and overthrew President Milton Obote.
Amin’s rule was characterized by brutality and repression. He established a secret police force known as the State Research Bureau (SRB), which was responsible for the torture and execution of thousands of Ugandans. Amin also targeted specific ethnic groups, such as the Acholi and Lango.
In 1979, Amin was overthrown by a Tanzanian-backed rebel army. He fled to Libya and later to Saudi Arabia, where he lived in exile until his death in 2003.
Amin’s legacy is one of brutality and repression. He is estimated to be responsible for the deaths of between 300,000 and 500,000 Ugandans. He is also remembered for his eccentric behavior and his outlandish statements.
Despite his brutality, Amin was also a charismatic and popular figure among some Ugandans. He was seen as a strong leader who stood up to Western powers. He also oversaw a period of economic growth and prosperity.
However, Amin’s legacy is ultimately one of darkness. He was a brutal dictator who caused immense suffering to his people.
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The information in this article was curated from online sources. NewsWireNGR or its editorial team cannot independently verify all details.
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