Not your average coup d'état

Will Sierra Leone herald the end of military rule in Africa?

by GWENDOLYN SCHULMAN

Military coup leaders in Sierra Leone are currently getting more than they bargained for. A widespread civil disobedience campaign has shut down the country and may well bring the coup leaders to their knees. And the showdown is being watched with keen interest continent-wide, as its outcome may usher in the beginning of a new era in African politics.

It's also being watched closely here at home. Thirty-four-year-old Montrealer Ismail Rashid is working with other Sierra Leoneans to sustain criticism coming from the Canadian government. His organization, Concerned Citizens for the Restoration of Democracy in Sierra Leone, is circulating a petition calling for non-recognition and total isolation of the Putschists. For Rashid, what happens next in this small West African country is loaded with implications for the entire continent. "This," he says, "may be the twilight of the generals of Africa."

The wall of resistance against the coup is not surprising. Almost 18 month ago Sierra Leoneans defied its previous military regime to bring President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah to power in internationally supervised elections. The ballot was the culmination of a grassroots peace movement fed up with successive military regimes, the plethora of armed rebel organizations and the daily realities of violence and poverty.

"Sierra Leone is the only country in Africa, with the possible exception of Mali, in which civilians have successfully forced the military out of power," Rashid says. "If they succeed in defeating the coup d'état it may mean that the reign of military men in Africa is coming to an end." He notes that other African nations are watching this one closely, because "their example will be powerful."

The May 25 coup, led by Major Johnny Paul Koroma, intended to topple the elected government of Kabbah. But citizens have turned the coup into a stalemate. "For two weeks now, no one has gone to work. Journalists, lawyers, trade unionists and women's organizations have all condemned it," says Rashid, a McGill graduate student in history who cut his political teeth in the '80s as a student activist and journalist in Sierra Leone. "Resistance to the coup is right across the board."

International support for their defiance is equally widespread. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), led by Nigeria, sent troops into Sierra Leone in the immediate aftermath of the coup, and additional contingents are poised to enter. The Organization of African Unity and the United Nations have also condemned the coup.

Rashid admits there's plenty to criticize in Kabbah's elected government, but few are willing to see it end this way. "Kabbah doesn't represent the best civilian democratic government, but at least it's a civilian democratic government," he says. "We are not defending a particular regime or person, we're defending a process that we don't want overturned."