How Africa
Some made horrible decisions, others were just bad presidents, a few were really bloodthirsty extremists, whilst a couple were warmongers. All of these guys are a mix who in the last 130 years have been the architects of the most horrific genocides, systematic murders, blockades, brutal wars, and policy reforms history has ever recorded. Here are the ten most murderous African presidents of all time.
MENGISTU HAILE MARIAM (400,000 – 1.5 MILLION DEATHS)
Breakdown: As president of Ethiopia and colonel of “the Derg” (communist militia) Mengitsu systematically killed those against him in the “Red Terror” campaign.
Mengistu Haile Mariam is (as in still alive) a politician who presided over Ethiopia from 1974 to 1991. The way he got into power was by smothering the previous president Haile Selassie although he has denied those rumors. His biggest claim to fame is the Ethiopian Red Terror which was a campaign of repression led by the Derg (communist militia in Ethiopia). In his introductory speech Mengitsu yelled, “Death to counterrevolutionaries! Death to the EPRP!” Then he took three bottles filled with blood and threw them to the ground.
It was an auspicious beginning to say the least. Thousands were killed and found dead on the streets in the years that followed. Much of the murdering can be attributed to the friendly neighborhood watch there known as “Kebeles”. As if killing innocents wasn’t enough they would then charge the family a tax to return the dead body to them. The tax was aptly named “the wasted bullet”! Are you serious Mengitsu? However there was an even more gruesome fate of being left on the street where wild hyenas would fight over the dead. The campaign has been described as one of the worst mass murders ever in Africa. Mengitsu is even known to have garroted people to death
YAKUBU GOWON (1.1 MILLION DEATHS)
Breakdown: 1 million civilians on the wrong side of a blockade caused by a war of secession in Nigeria and 100,000 soldiers who died in that war.
It starts as many sad stories do with precious beautiful oil. It had been found in the Niger delta where tensions were already high between the Eastern region (led by Ojukwu) and the rest of the country (governed by Yakubu). A dummy agreement was signed between them called the “Aburi Accord”, but it meant nothing to either leader. Yakubu started to put pressure on the region, and tested how much sway he had in the area versus Ojukwu. Well Ojukwu being no slouch declared secession from the rest of Nigeria and became the “Republic of Biafra”. This began a war that caused the deaths of 100,000 soldiers, and much worse, a blockade on the region which starved 1 million civilians.
IDI AMIN (25000-30000 DEATHS)
The 3rd President of Uganda was responsible for about 250,000 deaths which were a result of his regime of terror marked by torture, extra-judicial executions, corruption and ethnic persecution. He held power from 1972 to 1979 when he fled the country due to the defeat against Tanzania which he attacked one year earlier. He found refuge in Libya and then in Saudi Arabia where he died in 2003.
Sani Abacha (100 000-200 000 deaths)
A report on corruption, published in July 1997 by the Berlin-based organisation Transparency International listed Nigeria as the most corrupt nation in the world. Abacha took office in during a military coup occurred in November 1993, following the annulment of presidential elections in June that year.General Sani Abacha, the Armed Forces Chief of Staff, took power. He annulled the organs of state, banned political parties and dismantled the democratic structures.International pressure forced General Abacha to announce a three-year timetable for the transition to democracy in October 1995, but the plans were plagued by repeated delays.Local elections held in March 1997 were five months later than planned. Only five political parties were registered of the 15 who applied.Nigerian commission responsible for the transition to democracy announced that Presidential elections would be held on August 1, 1998. A handover to civilian rule is due to occur by the beginning of October.It was a military tribunal which ordered the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa and nine other activists in November 1995 , the 26 faced the death penalty.
CHARLES TAYLOR (100 000-150 000 DEATHS)
The former President of Liberia who was elected in 1997 (allegedly by terrorizing the population) has been connected with gross human rights violations, war crimes and crimes against the humanity in the civil war in the neighboring Sierra Leone as well as at home during the Second Liberian Civil War that lasted from 1999 to 2003. He is currently being trialled for his involvement in the Sierra Leone civil war at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.
