25 Years Ago… Captain Guerandi Mbara on the 1984 Coup Attempt

25 years ago a 30-year old army Captain cast in the mold of the young African revolutionary soldiers of the 1980s rallied young officers in Cameroon in an attempt to overthrow the Biya regime. After the failure of the coup attempt, that soldier, Captain Guerandi Mbara, successfully evaded the massive security dragnet of loyalist forces and made his way to Burkina Faso where his friend and former classmate at the Yaounde Military Academy, a certain Blaise Compaore had just organized a successful coup less than a year earlier which brought Captain Thomas Sankara to power.

Upon arrival in the “land of the incorruptibles", Guerandi did not simply fade away, a bitter and frustrated former soldier unable to adapt to civilian life or to life in exile.

Instead, he reinvented himself and became an erudite scholar. Today, he holds a doctorate in political science from Université René Descartes in Paris, a DEA in International Relations and Economics from same university, and a DESS in geopolitics and strategic studies from the Institut des Hautes Etudes Internationales still in Paris. He now runs a successful international consulting firm and is also a lecturer at the Diplomacy and International Relations Institute (IDRI), the Higher Institute of Economy and the National School of Administration and Magistracy (ENAM), all in Burkina Faso.

Guerandi has however not forgotten about Cameroon. "I think about Cameroon every five minutes". Rarely does a month go by that he doesn’t write about or comments on events in Cameroon. Feared by a regime which has tried unsuccessfully to have him kicked out of Bukina Faso, rumors of a Guerandi coup or armed insurrection surface with mathematical regularity in security circles and in the media. This is a man who rightly or wrongly gives the Yaounde regime nightmares. As one paranoid government official once put it; “Guerandi is up to no good; there is only one reason in the world why he would be interested in 'strategic studies'”…

Surprisingly, in the past 25 years, Guerandi has never talked or written about the acoup plot itself – that is, until last April 5, 2009 when he granted an interview to cameroonvoice.com, the Montreal-based Cameroonian online radio. It was a much anticipated interview, which lived up to its billing. during the interview, Guerandi threw water on a number of long held assumptions about the coup and its initiators, and also outlined his vision of tomorrow’s Cameroon. Here are selected highlights that deal directly with the coup attempt. The PDF version of the entire interview (in French) can be downloaded at the end of this posting.

Tomorrow, we wrap up with former First Lady, Germaine Ahidjo in her own words (Video).

Rationale for the Coup

We were motivated by a number of factors, some dating back to the colonial period and others to events of the 1980s… Cameroon was already suffering from a sclerosis caused by an organic, hegemonic and even legitimacy crisis. The state was sliding towards what the Anglo-Saxons refer to as a “failed state.” The collapse of the state was already very very visible back then, from the race to plunder state resources to an increase in tribalism and nepotism, etc. Who does not remember the statement “It is now our turn?” Or “the goat eats where it is tethered”? These statements have not ceased. They have instead multiplied today. We hear of percentages, of “gombo” in the media…
Who does not remember the squandering of financial resources under the guise of creating a new ethno-regional bourgeois? Who does not remember the arbitrary arrests? Or, the desire to wipe out certain regions that were targeted by the ethnofacists in power? Bamileke and Islamo-peuhl entrepreneurs come to mind.

Who does not remember the judicial proceedings, initiated by those vengeful individuals, which threatened the fragile national cohesion? Who does not remember the sectarian practices within our armed forces and security apparatus which exacerbated the frustrations of the different sociological components [of the country] and created tensions between the different ranks of the armed forces?
Some argue that [at the time of the coup] Paul Biya had not yet found his bearing. Granted. But do they realize that Paul Biya is the continuation of the system? He has an important player within the system since 1962. When he became president he was well versed in the arcane mysteries of power…
Our primary objective was to prevent the chaos that we are witnessing today and to anticipate solutions to the sociopolitical and economic disorders which were emerging from within the new administration.

Many have wondered what the term “Jose” meant. It is «Jeunes Officiers pour la Survie de l’État» (Young Officers for the Survival of the State). As early as 1975, my comrades had been analyzing the geopolitical situation in Cameroon within secret cells. I cannot say more.

On His Relationship with President Ahidjo

While in Cameroon, I did not have any relationship with president Ahidjo. I was just a poor officer in the army; I wasn’t even a member of the presidential guards… However, while in exile, I was able to meet him, thanks to two heads of state, and satisfy my need to understand certain events in our history... let me repeat, we did not go to battle in order to return Ahidjo to power. That would have been unthinkable. It was against our ethics and our politics. We knew the role that each and everyone played in the events which marked out the road to Cameroon’s independence. Let’s stop these tales which people use to assuage their conscience or to justify the post April 84 criminal repression. History is always written by the winners. Back then is was a good strategy to stigmatize Ahidjo in a bid to achieve that final victory…

On Colonel Saleh Ibrahim the Alleged Coup “Ringleader”

The highest ranking members in the “Jose” movement were Captains. Colonel Saleh Ibrahim, whom they executed, Colonel Ngoura Belhadji or Ousmanou Daouda, etc. were simply victims of the grudgeful hatred of Paul Biya’s men. Saleh Ibrahim was not the leader of the coup. In fact, we kept him to under guard in his house to prevent him from leaving. We did this because we understood the mentality of superior officers, their propensity to switch sides. Therefore, we could not involve them in this patriotic venture. The so-called victors had to justify their cruelty by blaming officers from the North. The leadership was a coalition of which the JOSE movement was the frontline, the armed wing. Some of the members were Marxists. This you did not know.

As for Issa Adoum, he was a vital player in obtaining civilian support for the coup, and his designation as Head of State resulted from a vote within the Higher Military Council. This does not mean that he would necessarily have become the president in the event of a victory. I am convinced because the majority of our comrades were determined to completely restructure national life. Remember that back then, Africa was in the throes of a series of coups inspired by young revolutionary officers.

Why coup failed

Without going into details, there a number of noteworthy factors that explain what happened, among them, the disclosure of the plot by an officer of presidential security at 3 pm on April 5; the sending away of certain officers at the presidential palace to their homes after the disclosure, when they were supposed to arrest the occupants of the palace (you know whom I am talking about); the about-face of the airborne commandos from the Koutaba [military base]; the failure to transmit key instructions to comrades who were camped on the outskirts of the capital; and I think the failure to create an urban guerilla front, etc….

There were also a number of technical and logistics problems, along with other subjective factors which I cannot discuss here.

Any Regrets?

In all seriousness, I don’t regret our action. You know, the absence of the rule of law [in Cameroon today] continues to comfort me in my belief that we were right. What is the meaning of the recent constitutional revision? What is the meaning of the creation of ELECAM and the manner in which its members were selected? This is nothing but a confirmed monarchy. We cannot accept this… in the end, these two acts constitute fatal errors for this regime.

We want the rule of law, democracy, social justice and progress. I think that every Cameroonian today – and I am speaking to all Cameroonians, we must know when to cross the red line in order to liberate our people from dictatorship. No one, and I mean no one, will do it for us. It is a collective right and obligation.

Nevertheless, you want to know if, 25 years later, I regret the actions that we took. In the name of my comrades, I offer my regrets and my most sincere condolence to the victims of our actions… It will be irresponsible on my part not to do so.

"Cameroon will be back"

Last February, Cameroonians commemorated the first anniversary of the youth revolt. Once again, I pay a vibrant tribute to all these assassinated youths for saying no to the fiddling about with the constitution... These youths must be freed without condition. I also call for the liberation of Lapiro de Mbanga. I am also thinking of all those imprisoned militants of the SCNC, at a time when dialogue with these compatriots should prevail, they are being forced into an escalation... At this beginning of the 21st century, our towns and villages deserve better... the stakes and challenges are not insurmountable. "Cameroon will be back."

Click here to print or download Guerandi's interview (French)

Comments

[Samira Edi]

Priceless, thank you Mola. A masterful narrative packed with invaluable information. Well crafted...Encore! Encore...!

I can identify with Mr Guerandi on may issues, and I sympathise with his dilemma and his nostalgia for the motherland. While his may be a self-imposed exile, because of his connection to the coup, Biya's wreckage of our country into a rubble has condemned many to the same fate. He has effectively sent scores of young, hard working, innocent Cameroonians turning their backs on a homeland they love desperately, as semi-exiles in foreign lands.

However, Mr Guerandi's bouncebackability should be a great source of inspiration to all Cameroonians. Many are equally as disillusioned as he with the Biya regime, and the total state of deterioration the country now faces. And like him, many have made the places where they live their homes!!

This, however, is Biya's unfair sleight of hand in cahoots with destiny. Those who're exculpated from any negative political activism feel a profound sense of revulsion at being cheated, as Biya surreptitiously turned a once promising beacon of prosperity and Africa-in-miniature into a fetid Banana Republic. I have friends who refuse to have anything to do with that country; and those who say they'll never plan any long term investments in a country as hostile to itself as Cameroon is.

I write this with a heavy heart, because I feel so cheated of my rights-- so cheated-- and my privileges as a Cameroonian--thwarted from realizing my full potentials as I know I can IN Cameroon, because of the calous actions one tyranical ignoramus and his consiglieri of corrupt apparatchiks of the CPDM--so disgusted am I to have my wings clipped. We've even been deprived of loving the country unconditionally--our patriotic privileges; and we are forced to taste the same bitterness that the coup plotters feel, innocent as we are, even as we do our ultimate to rise above it.

The average Cameroonian abroad will definitely identify with the former captain, eventhough we're averse to coup d'etats and bloodshed of that sort. But sometimes, I wonder how different it would've been had the coup succeeded; or would Cameroon have slipped abyssmally into the sin bins of internicine slaughter houses of ill repute, as we have them today, littered all over Africa?

[SJ]

Captain Guerandi Mbara declarations makes for interesting reading but I think should be treated with lot skepticism. If one knows the ethos of the Cameroun military he proudly served in: its arrogance, brutality, anti-republican and anti-people posture that was nurtured by the French and then Ahidjo to crush the UPC movement, one is best advised to treat what is obviously self-serving recollections and spin by the captain turn thinker with a healthy dose of reservation.

I do not think had the coup plotters succeeded in 1984, things would have been any different. If they were any more patriotic, if Mbara was any more patriotic, he would have found it intellectually and morally untenable to lie comfortably in the butcher of Thomas Sankara, Blaise Campaore’s bloody bosom. And how exactly is Blaise Campaore different from Paul Biya?

Yes, Sankara came to power through a coup to change the colonial order; Campaore came to power through a coup to restore the colonial order; and as events in Mbara's life subsequent to his failed coup reveals, it can be argued he would have been more of a Campaore, more of a Biya, than a Sankara.

What I am trying to say is that the April 6, 1984 coup plotters would have maintained the essence of the same exploitative and anti-democratic rule and culture necessary to maintain secret Cooperation Agreements with France in Cameroun had they succeeded. Those Cooperation Agreements are no different in Ouagadougou where Mbara parades comfortably close to the seat of power!

This relationship with France is the most insidious obstacle to progress in Africa because France is holding hostage a significant portion of the continent’s peoples by having complete monetary control via the slave currency called the CFA Franc and secret exclusive agreements that surrenders francophonic Africa’s land and resources to Paris. This forestalls economic cooperation between African states and African states and the rest of the world. How this continues to be the case remains a puzzle but can be partly explained by France’s unalloyed support for her trusted long-serving dictators: Nguesso, Bongo, Derby, Biya and Guerandi Mbara’s patron-host and murderer of Thomas Sankara, Blaise Campaore. And also the monarchial transfer of power as seen in Togo and as is being rumored in Gabon and Cameroun.

Now, why am I introducing the French in this? Guerandi Mbara went under the protection and patronage of a Campaore who conspired with France to kill Thomas Sankara. If there was ever a “yes, we can” personality on the continent at that time, the handsome, brilliant and courageous Thomas Sankara was it. But I digress. Campaore, more than any one on the continent was instrumental in fomenting the wars that brought calamity to West Africa: Liberia, Sierra Leone and Cote d’Ivoire. Is Guerandi Mbara prepared to reveal the role he played in this criminal enterprise in West Africa? He has boasted of training officers of the Burkinabe military whose roles in the barbarism in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Cote d’Ivoire are well documented. Burkina Faso and Blaise Campaore proudly did France’s bidding in this destabilization of West Africa; and in Francois Xavier-Verschave’s Noir Silence, we learn that with French diplomatic support, Charles Taylor (who was to be later given the honor of an official State visit to France—the only western country to have done so) circumvented arms embargoes to prolong the devastation.

For me, April 6, 1984 has no mystery. A break with the ongoing colonial past would not have come from the April 6, 1984 cabal.

But I am really interested in what Guerandi Mbara may have to say in the future about the devastation that his patron, Blaise Campaore, unleashed in his demented quest for morbid francophonic prestige in West Africa under the tutelage and prodding of la mere-patrie, France, and to a lesser extend the King of African Kings, Ghadaffi of Tripoli.

[Dr A A Agbormbai]

Powerful arguments, SJ! It is easy to get fooled by Guerandi Mbara's claim to their desire for introducing democracy and social justice in Cameroon as the motivation for the coup. All the signs are that we would have had no better than Ahidjo or Biya gave us.

[Cobra]

Hello SJ,

Some 17 years ago, a group of revolutionary students at the university of Yaounde were banned from all institutions of higher learning in Cameroon and hounded by Biya's security forces. About of 30 of them were whisked out of Cameroon in a highly secret Operation known as operation Exodus. These students found refuge in Burkina Faso under the guidanship of Compaore. Did this young left wing Cameroonian student activists end up in Faso because they loved Compaore or were French stooges? No. It was a means to an end and none of them are in Burkina today.

I narrate this story to point out that judging Guerandi, whom I had never heard about until today, simply on the fact that he was given protection in Bukina by a former classmate who became president and killed Sankara is unfair. I am sure Bukina is the only place in this world where Guerandi and his family feel the safest and demanding that he should have left after Compaore's coup makes no sense and is the kind of emotional action that rational and level headed people don't take.

Someday, the full truth about the April 6 coup will come out and we will know who were the real villains and heroes.

[Ma Mary]

In future Camerounese coups, Southern Cameroonians should not take sides. Let them blow each other up for all we care. You all who live in the belly of the occupier should have contingency escape plans. It is not a matter of if but when the sewer will burst.

[Bi-boy]

Dr. Agbormbai
I happend to be one of the students you mentioned in your comment and was in Burkina. True Dr. Guerandi is safe in Burkina but the man is doing enormous underground work to strengthen the opposition back home. I had the chance to meet him in Ouagadougou. He was of emmence help to us eventhough his friend killer Compaore letter expelled 9 of us from Burkina because he thought we were the Sankara branch of our movement.