"Any power conquered by force is unethical", says African cardinal

The Catholic bishops of Africa have expressed alarm over the recent coups d'états that have recently toppled governments in several countries across the vast African continent – in Gabon and Niger, and a little earlier in Burkina Faso, Mali and Sudan…

Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo of Kinshasa (DRC), who is president of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM), issued a statement on September 8, voicing he his confreres "concern at the fact that military interventions are now taking center stage, leading to political instability and fostering a climate of uncertainty".

The cardinal’s message, which was on behalf of all SECAM members, traced the history of the military coup d'états that have marked the African continent for decades.

"While during the post-independence period (1960-1980), coup d'états were part of a dynamic of conquering power with the aim of instituting dynasties, those carried out in the Sahel countries (Mali, Burkina, Niger) and in Gabon seem to have one thing in common, in that their aim, according to their perpetrators, is to put an end to the system of predation and widespread corruption instituted by the deposed regimes," he said.

Analysis of the situation on the African continent

"Any power conquered by force is unethical," Cardinal Ambongo warned, saying it was not in accord with current Catholic teaching on democracy. "The Church values the democratic system inasmuch as it ensures the participation of citizens in making political choices, guarantees to the governed the possibility both of electing and holding accountable those who govern them, and of replacing them through peaceful means when appropriate," he insisted, repeating the words of John Paul II’s 1990 encyclical Centesimus annus (no. 46).

The president of SECAM said he is struck by the popular enthusiasm for military coups and wondered "how far this movement, emerging outside a legal framework, can go". He also pointed out that history has provided "abundant examples of attempts to perpetuate transition, which belies the promises made by the perpetrators of the coups".

The Congolese cardinal warned against the emergence of populism, which could reawaken the "old reflex" of "ideological alignment, as in the days of the Cold War". He said such a turnaround could be fatal for Africa, “given the attraction its mineral wealth holds for the world's major powers".

Cardinal Ambongo said one solution would be for the African Union to encourage "the exchange of ideas and resources between its member states, to avoid being trapped and becoming prisoners in rigid ideological alignments".

Recommendations

Finally, the SECAM president put forward a number of recommendations. He said it was essential to give priority to constructive dialogue in countries affected by putsches.

He also urged political and military leaders "to respect and protect the human rights of their citizens throughout the conflict resolution process", and called on "the international community to respect the common good of its citizens and not to impose its will for selfish gain".