African heads of State who fled their palaces in terror!

Amadou Toumani Touré (President of Mali, 2002 – 2012) While the Touaregue rebels were wrecking havoc in the North of Mali, President Amadou Toumani Touré was going about his daily businesses as though nothing was happening. Angered by his inaction, a group of military officers took the Mali Radio and Television (Ortm) hostage and were heading towards the presidential palace when Toumani Touré fled for his life. That was on 21 March, 2012.

He escaped at about 6:00 p.m. through the western end of Koulouba, one of the hills on which the Malian presidential palace is perched, together with his aide de camp and three soldiers who sometimes carried him on their backs because the fleeing President had a bad knee.

François Bozizé (President of CAR, 2003 – 2013) The rebels who dislodged François Bozizé from the Renaissance Presidential Palace of the Central African Republic (CAR) were known as the Seleka. On 22 March 2013, four months after they began their rebellion, two groups of Seleka rebels numbering about 2000 each entered Bangui and got to the Bozizé’s palace 48 hours later.

The latter got up early that morning to hear the sound of guns all over the place. Shortly after, his immediate bodyguard was killed. Time for Bozizé to flee! Together with his aide de camp and two of his sons he took the direction of the Rouz Camp where a helicopter was waiting for them. Their first stop was Batouri in the East region of Cameroon and later Yaounde.

Mobutu Sese Seko (President of Zaire, 1965 – 1997) It took Laurent-Désiré Kabila, supported by Rwanda and Uganda, nine months to get to Kinshasa, after successively capturing Goma, Kisangani, Lumumbashi and Kenge. The latter town is a few kilometers away from Kinshasa, and while Kabila and his men were there, Mobutu was still in his official Tshatshi residence in Kinshasa, hoping to head a transition government.

However, when word got to him in the wee hours of 16 May, 1997 that the rebels were very close, he hastened to the Ndjili airport from where he flew to his bastion in Gbadoilte in the Equator province, North West of the then Zaire. But the Leopard was still not safe. Reason why he escaped to Togo the following day when Kabila and his men finally took over Kinshasa.

Mouammar El Gaddafi (President of Libya, 1969 – 2011) The West was not at ease with Gaddafi and so wanted him dead. The rebellion against him reached its apex in August 2011 when the Libyan ‘Guide” appeared on state TV in military uniform (23 August), challenged the members of the National Transition Council, his enemies, calling them “rats”.

By this time, Gaddafi had already been dislodged from Tripoli and was in hiding in his stronghold of Syrte. The rebels finally penetrated Syrte in October of that year and forced Gaddafi, supported by a few of his bodyguards, to hide in a tunnel where his enemies got hold of him and took his life.

Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali (President of Tunisia, 1987 – 2011) The uprising in Tunisia that involved tens of thousands of protesters asking for the departure of Ben Ali was very popular. Less than one month after it began, it was clear to many that the President would not withstand it. But the latter did not immediately see the danger, especially the head of the presidential guard, General Ali Seriati, kept deceiving him that all would be fine.

When danger was more than imminent on 14 January, 2011, the General asked his boss to leave the country and permit him to put things back into order before he could return. The person who readily granted Ben Ali asylum was his old friend, Nayel Ben Abdelaziz Al Saoud, the Saudi minister of Interior, whom he called on the afternoon of that day.

And so, accompanied by his wife, Leïla Trabelsi, and some members of his family they left Tunis at about 5:45 p.m. through Boeing 737 of El-Aouina.

Henri Konan Bédié (President of Ivory Coast, 1993 – 1999) Christmas 1999 was very traumatizing for Konan Bédié. Early in the morning of 23 December, a small group of soldiers of the Akouédo Barracks rose in one voice, demanding the payment of their allowances and salary arrears. This did not however stop Bédié from visiting his hometown of Daoukro.

In the afternoon, the mutineers took over the national radio and television almost effortlessly. That was when Bédié knew matters were serious. He hurriedly returned to Abidjan. At night, the soldiers went as far as to Kabacouma in the west of the country to look for their leader, General Robert Gueï who, the following morning, announced the destitution of President Konan Bédié and the formation of a National Salvation Committee.

Bédié had to take refuge in the residence of the French ambassador after passing through the famous tunnel that is built between the presidential palace and the ambassador’s residence. Together with his wife Henriette and some close ones, he was eventually evacuated to Port-Bouet before they flew to Togo by helicopter.

Pascal Lissouba (President of Congo, 1992 – 1997) Congo sank into civil war at the beginning of June 1997. The combatants: the “Cobras” of Denis Sassou Nguesso and the forces of President Pascal Lissouba. At one point, Lissouba was forced to fly out of the country, particularly to the southern part of Africa, to seek support. But the attack of Nguesso’s men was very incisive and by 10 October, they were already in Brazaville.

Upon return home, Pascal Lissouba saw hell. Sassou’s camp, supported by Angola, fought fiercely for a number days, forcing Lissouba to retreat to his native Dolisie situated not far from Brazzaville. It was from there that he entered Gabon on the night of 17 October. Over 10 000 people died in the civil war, that saw the return to power of Sassou Nguesso.