Guinean Coup Highlights Cultural Disparity

It's difficult not to be judgmental of those involved in the bloody transition of power because whenever there is conflict, it's always those innocent in the middle who pay the highest price. It's all over the map in Africa: Mugabe running his nation into the ground; South Africa facing phenomenal AIDS and rape epidemics in the slums; Somalia fraught with over a decade of war and instability. Is there a fundamental difference in the Western idea of peace – at the very least among your own people – and what is going on in Africa today?

I understand that every nation faces corruption and the greed of those who are in power, but in Africa, that seems to be magnified. How can the leaders of some of the poorest nations take so much from their people? Certainly, that can be seen in other parts of the globe, like North Korea, but it is more widespread in Africa. Even in relatively peaceful countries (by African standards) such as Kenya, there has been election violence.

And what of the military? In most if not all Western nations, the military has a sense of purpose: to protect and defend the nation and its people. In so many African nations, however, the military is a tool of repression for the leader or themselves. Either way, too often they are involved in brutalizing the populace or ethnic/political subsections of it.

How? Why? I am aware that my view is colored by my culture, but I struggle to comprehend the actions of a nation against its people. I am even more worried when, for example, a former Rwandan Hutu or a ZANU-PF/Mugabe supporter expresses remorse for the killings they took part in. Perhaps it isn't cultural after all. I have heard many Nazi-like "I didn't want to do it, but I obeyed orders" explanations as to why they committed such heinous atrocities, but that sentiment only further fuels the question of how this can happen, and why/how on such a large scale across a massive continent.

I disagree with a lot of what Thabo Mbeki has said, but one thing I do agree with: Africa needs to solve Africa's problems. Foreign intervention, however well-intentioned, will not result in lasting change. Unfortunately, that realization chills me to the bone. How long will it take for those with even a modicum of power to think first about the people without power instead of using it as a springboard to grabbing even more power and taking as much as possible from those without?