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I’m ready to hand over
— Guinean military leader, Captain Camara
By ERIC OSAGIE, who was in Conakry
Saturday, November 21,
2009
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•Camara
Photo: Sun News Publishing |
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To meet and chat with the Guinean military head of state, Captain
Mousa Dadis Camara, is not a journey for the faint-hearted. Soldiers
in camouflage and regular combat uniforms clutching different kinds
of assault rifles stand menacingly around the storey-building office
of the president.
They are young and unsmiling. Their biceps would make fitness
instructors proud. Bullet proof vests bulge out from broad chests
and shoulders, further accentuating their menacing looks.
Outside the military barracks, tucked somewhere in the heart of
Conakry, armoured tanks are stationed with scores of other soldiers
scrutinising the entry and exit of visitors.
Captain Dadis Camara has been conducting state matters from the
military barracks since he took over power in a military putsch.
The office he uses was his former office as commanding officer.
In power, he has found the military ambience expedient for obvious
reasons.
“Mr. President will soon be with you,” a lanky fellow,
dressed in mufti, informs the visitors, ushering us into the medium-sized
office. A quick survey: A giant portrait of the military strong
man hangs over the settee. The Guinean flag flutters from another
corner. On the table are copies of the Bible and the Quoran.
But it’s the soldiers on guard that drive home the message
that a full-blown military regime is in place in this tiny West
African country.
Then, Camara saunters in: a middle-aged man, wearing his army uniform
and a shy smile. He shakes hands. “Sit down gentlemen,”
he says gently, his eyeballs darting from their socket.
The Guinean head of state has a soft voice, but don’t be fooled.
He has a heart of steel. He’s the leader of the military men
that wrested power from the civilians after the former president,
Lasana Conte, suddenly expired. And he has been battling to stave
off international pressures to hand over immediately to a new civilian
administration.
But the man says he is not opposed to handing over power. He says
he only wants things done properly. He told Saturday Sun
in an exclusive interview: “Dadis (Camara) never
said no to election. But they (politicians) are in a hurry and when
you are in a hurry, you get things wrong. ..I’m waiting for
them and I’m following the international community.
When the international community, the political party leaders and
the population are ready to go for election, there will be an election.”
Camara also revealed how Guinean politicians ruled and ruined their
country in the past 50 years of the nation’s independence,
squandering over 500 million dollars on electricity, which only
generated darkness and misery for the people.
“This is the only capital city in whole world that has no
electricity in this 21st century,” he says, his voice rising
steadily. “All these political party leaders today that are
talking, were all past Ministers and Prime Ministers. They were
all ministers at very important posts and even within five and 10
years, they were ministers. Why didn’t they take
care of the nation? They betrayed the nation.”
Below, excerpts of the encounter with Camara:
Can you tell us a little about yourself?
For many reasons, I don’t like talking about myself in the
press.
Okay, we will respect your right not to talk about yourself.
From the time that you got into this responsibility, what came to
your mind as to how you want to lead your country?
I have often been inspired by patriotism, love
of my nation. I received this training from my family.
I was brought up in a family that was modest and honest. I was born
in a revolution. I grew up in this revolution and I have also
lived in liberalism, which allowed me to pursue my military
career after my university education.
As soon as you came in, there was disapproval around the
world that military rule should not come into the body politics
of Africa. How have you been able to convince the world that you
needed to do something at this point in time?
I can assure you that the whole nation of Guinea was with me. Even
the military also were with me because this is the first time in
the whole world that the army people took over power in a country
and you find no bloodshed. Not even one shot of the gun was heard.
The political party leaders stood against me because what they saw,
they’ve never seen since the birth of this country.
They have seen that the whole population is behind me because
of what I have started doing and the changes I’ve started
bringing in this country, that’s why the political parties
are against me.
How soon will you conclude your job and hand over to civilian
administration because that is what the world is interested in?
The General in Mauritania, was he born a military man? No one is
born a military man. I was once a civilian and I also went
to school and finished my university education. I joined the army
so that I can defend my country and I went to Germany. I went through
the university. It’s not a problem of civilian/military leadership.
I already had a civilian education from my birth up to the university.
I already have civil instruction. The army is just a chosen path
to work and to give your soul and your body to your nation. Who
is a civilian beside me? Who went through the school that I didn’t
go through? Tell me. All the stage that they went through
from the beginning to the university, I went through that stage.
But what I have that they don’t is the patriotism, which the
military instils in you.. That’s why in the countries where
I’ve been to pursue my military career, they have what
they call the army obligation. George Bush was also a military
man. General Dego was also an army man. General (Ibrahim) Babangida
was also an army man.
Today, he is civilian. It’s a patriotism problem. I don’t
want people to mistake that. I need to give something to my nation.
After 50 years (of independence), I need to give something to my
people. After 50 years of darkness, 50 years of serpents, this is
the only capital city in whole world that has no electricity in
this 21st century. In eight months, I started giving them water
and electricity. All these political party leaders today that are
talking, they were all past Ministers and Prime Ministers. They
were all Ministers at very important posts and even within five
and 10 years, they were Ministers. Why didn’t they
take care of the nation? They betrayed the nation. But in
eight months, I’ve done more than they did and I am at the
service of the nation. Guinea was a state of drug dealers. From
a General to a Prime Minister, they were all in conflict. In eight
months, I got rid of this. That’s what the country wants.
It’s service and restoration of the state.
What do you think of election? Is election not important
because no matter how well you think about your country and no matter
how patriotic you are, the world is talking about democracy and
election. Is it not important for you to be elected and do you want
to contest elections?
Before I talk about the elections, I first have to see the preference
of the people. I know election is an important factor in the development
of any country. We are no longer in those regimes of dictatorship.
I know the international political relationship. I know the international
economic relationship. That’s why the concepts of election
and democracy came from Greece and that is the voice of the
people. So, the leaders today are the ones that have problems because
the population do not trust them anymore. Otherwise, I should not
have been here because there was a plot to incite the population
against me, just like the case in Madagascar. But the population
refused to stand with them. My objective is to go to the election.
But they are stopping me. They are putting the bars in the wheel.
When I took over power, I said in 2010, there will be election.
They said 2009. I said yes. Dadis (Camara) never said no to election.
But they are in a hurry and when you are in a hurry, you get things
wrong.
Because of democracy, it doesn’t mean you have to mobilize
or incite the population to go and attack the buildings and burn
police stations and take fire arms against other people. They
went to the stadium and it was forbidden for anybody to stay there.
They forced the door to say that President Dadis Camara shouldn’t
be a candidate to election. But does democracy mean that your
people will go and start destroying the nation and buildings in
the country? And they are civilians, they take up fire arms; all
those arms and weapons against who? Is this democracy?
2010 is your originally proposed date of handover.
Is it still holding or you have a different idea? When exactly are
you going to hand over?
For the election, it depends on the people and also the political
actors because they have just left Ouagadougou. There is some spirit
of misunderstanding. So, there is no consensus. There is no understanding
or nothing that has been discussed. I’m waiting for them and
I’m following the international community. If all the conditions
are put together for the election – one of the conditions,
of course is the mediation that President Blaise Campaore
is putting together and he even asked that a national unity government
be put in place. I know that is in the spirit of democracy.
When the international community, the political party leaders and
the population would be ready to go for election, there will be
an election.
Would you want to contest election?
No, I cannot contest an election because the international community
is against it. In the agreement with all the political actors, in
the agreement with the population, I’m just an individual.
I cannot put myself above national interests because I would betray
myself and the nation. I’m ready at any time for the election
if they are ready.
Do you think the international community understands your
intention?
They misunderstood my intentions for this nation because they didn’t
have the chance to better discover or know me. That is the situation
that we’ve had in Africa. You have to separate the reality
from illusions. The democracy of a nation is not bound to just some
individuals. The international community has to send people
to do some investigations. In the United States, when there is election,
people do not just see Washington. You have Dallas, you have California,
you have New York and you have everywhere.
Again in France, it’s not just in Paris. That is what is keeping
Africa behind. The international community knows this reality.
Most Africans know the realities of Africa. Some were Heads of State.
They were army men and they are now civilians. But some are refusing.
That’s why I have respect for President Blaise Campaore.
I know all Africa right in my hand, all those who have been Heads
of State. I studied Mauritania. I studied all African countries.
You seem to believe that the Guinean politicians
destroyed the country?
It’s clear. Yes, because most of these politicians, they all
knew about all these but none of them thought about taking care
of even the army. If today you see the military men, they are all
like let it go. It’s because they had no feeling for them
or even thinking about taking care of them so that there will be
discipline in the army. So, I can say they have betrayed this nation.
They are responsible. They didn’t manage the economy. They
didn’t think about giving a representation. They invested
about $500 million in water and electricity but you don’t
have electricity. All these old Ministers, they were Prime Minister
and they had the power in their hands to take this country out of
darkness. But they didn’t do anything about it. But today,
they claim to be heroes of democracy.
Who would you then hand over power to with this kind of
scenario you paint of your country?
The power is the voice of the people. This person that the population
is going to judge honest and sincere and cannot destroy this nation,
and then honour the guardians of the international community, they
will come and the person that will be elected will be democratically
elected. He will be the President of the country. I don’t
even have that power to take an individual and say you are the President
or any other person to say this person will be the voice of the
people. The people are going to vote the person that they want.
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