what are CURRENT AFRICAN DICTATORS you know,if any?
545207
Starcrossing40, Iraq and Iran and Syria are all part of the African continent. Check your map. However, Saddam is no longer in power, so he isn't currently a dictator.\n\nParade ranked the Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir as the world’s worst dictator. During his reign OECD countries gave his regime more than $6 billion in non-military aid. The U.S. accounted for more than $1 billion of that aid. Kim Jong-Il was ranked as the second worst dictator and received a little over $1 billion in aid, with more than half of it coming from the U.S. Than Shwe of Myanmar, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, and Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan round out the top five dictators on the list. The U.S. contributed $32 million to Myanmar, $1.1 billion to Zimbabwe, and $385 million to Uzbekistan.\n\nOverall, OECD countries contributed aid to every one of Parade’s 20 worst dictators. Combined, these leaders received nearly $55 billion in aid. The U.S. contributed to 19 of the 20 worst dictators; King Abdulla of Saudi Arabia was somehow left off of the U.S. gravy train. In total, the U.S. contributed more than $7 billion in aid to these leaders. In North Korea, Belarus, Ethiopia, Swaziland, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan the U.S. contributed more than 20 percent of the total aid these countries received from OECD countries.\n\nGovernment-sponsored aid has failed to promote economic growth in the third world. From 1970 to 2000, more than $400 billion poured into poor African countries with no development to show for it. Parade’s list of dictators makes our foreign aid record even more disturbing. Not only has it failed to promote development, in many cases our aid has supported oppressive dictatorships.\n\nFollowing Hamas’s recent victory in Palestine’s elections, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice threatened to cut off aid to Palestine, saying, “The United States is not prepared to fund an organization that advocates the destruction of Israel, that advocates violence and that refuses its obligations.” Perhaps the U.S. should apply that policy to the dictators on Parade’s list as well. By providing aid to these dictators the U.S. has given them a source of funds to use to secure political support and likely prolonged their oppressive reigns.\n\nThe first rule of development policy should be to do no harm. Unfortunately OECD and U.S. aid have failed to promote development and actively promoted harm by aiding oppressive dictatorships. This kind of aid also unfortunately tends to undermine economic freedom by politicizing economic life in the recipient country and by preserving inefficient regimes. Over the last 30 years development aid has lowered measures of economic freedom in both dictatorships and democracies. To better promote freedom, and consequently development, we should end economic development aid to dictators and democracies alike.\n\n\n--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\nBenjamin Powell, Ph.D., is the Director of the Center on Entrepreneurial Innovation at the Independent Institute, an Oakland-based policy think tank and a professor of economics at San Jose State University. \n--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\nMatt Ryan is an adjunct fellow with the Independent Institute in Oakland, Calif. and holds a Masters degree in Economics from San Jose State University. \n--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
704943
O.K.  good thing you clarified that!  So, taking in consideration your basis for the question, and although I have never been there, from what I have heard and read, you are probably right - at least about the fact that the parts of Africa under 'white rule' do seem to be quite a bit more progressive than those we see under 'black rule'.\n\nI do not believe, however, that this has anything to do with intellect.  I'm quite sure that it has much more to do with the wealth, which almost always accompanies power and control that surely came into Africa with the white people who now inhabit parts of the region.  \n\nAnd, I barely understand the politics of this country, much less know anything about what REALLY goes on in and around the Whitehouse, that is not told to us by the media. However, I have a hunch that pretty much everything that happens is a result of bribery,  blackmail, extortion, propaganda, and at the bottom of it all, who has the most money/power.  All around the world, the rich and powerful tend to get what they want, and anything that may or may not be left over goes to the rest of us common people - of any color in any land.\n\nAs I say, I don't know this for sure or anything, but are you so sure that Angola and Zimbabwe are really completely run by their own people?  Or maybe it just is made to appear that way.  I'm fairly sure that if there are resources there, and if the leaders of those countries are the true leaders (not "puppets", put in place by wealthy and powerful while people), then they would surely have taken advantage of them. Unless, they are being prevented from doing so by circumstances beyond their control.\n\nAnd just FYI, I'm not trying to stick up for or stand against any particular race.  I'm white, born in America - for better or worse.  I'm just writing from the perspective with which I see things.\n\nI dont' think that the present Iraqi "government" is really in control of Iraq.  I don't mean that they are having trouble with the civil war there that was not there before the US invasion, but that even if there weren't a civil war, that government is just an extention of George Bush, Rumsfeld, et al.  I only brought up Iraq to try to illustrate a concept that things aren't always the way they appear. And just because it appears that certain African countries are under 'black rule', that in reality, they probably aren't.  They probably answer to outsiders, and probably not by choice either.  Just like the Iraqi's.\n\nJust what I suspect, no proof....just my 2 cents.  Hope it helps?
348027
We are talking about countries with oppressive regimes who imprison their political opponents.\n\nVaclav Havel was jailed as a dissident in the Czrch Republic and emerged from jail to become his country's president. As did Nelson Mandela in South Africa. They both became cause celebres and rallying points for the opposition in that country.\n\nMandela spoke out about Apartheid, Havel about Stalinism, the governments did not want them to be free to organise opposition to the government, and imprisoned them instead.\n\nFind out about Amnesty Internatioinal and its work in support of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience.\n\nPerhaps the most important case in the world at the moment is Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, the woman opposition leader in Myanmar (Burma) who has been under house arrest for some years. The eyes of the world are on her, as they were on Nelson Mandela when he was in jail.\n\nShe has led pro-democracy opposition forces since 1988 in opposition to the military regime in Myanmar.
120076
It's commander in chief, not and chief... anyway, as they have said, a dictatorship is a country ruled by one person who seized power, as opposed to a monarchy, in which sole rule is passed down from person to person.\n\nThe following countries are currently considered to be under a dictatorship, though of course they wouldn't say so. Gabon, Libya, Equitorial Guinea, Angola, Egypt, Sudan, Tunisia, Chad, the Central African Republic, Mauritania, Cuba, Syria, Maldives, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Laos, Burma, North Korea, and Belarus.
509988
Hey good question and i too am curious but i dont think its only African leaders. Most and I repeat most leaders are corrupt.
1153157
It is a rebel group wih serious issues where Kony the leader thinks he sees visions and wants Uganda to be ruled by the Ten Commendments. HIs group has been linked to massacres, child soldiering and a whole lot of war crimes. He continues to kill nad maime people but the African Union, The UN, the internation community are simply not doing anything. In fact he frequently holds talks with the SPLM/A. that is the government of the newly formed South Sudan. And to think our leaders were protecting us from the axis of evil.
271709
try the CIA Website, you have to know what the countries of Africa are though !
153742
The following were the African members of Parade magazines worst dictator list in 2004:\n\nRobert Mugabe, Zimbabwe\nTeodoro Obiang Nguema, Equatorial Guinea\nOmar Al-Bashir, Sudan\nKing Mswati III, Swaziland\nMuammar Qaddafi, Libya (Mr. Qadaffi was not in the Parade Top Ten list, but was mentioned in the accompanying article.)\n\nand not actually in Africa but on the neighboring Arab peninsula:\n\nCrown Prince Abdullah, Saudi Arabia
103038
Fidel Castro\nBatista was a dictator
154463
Impossible to measure.  Your answer is most likely a country with no central government.  There are African nations that are eternally in governmental flux as power is shifted amoungst rival warlords.
323859
That question, presumably a first year college question in politics, is seriously flawed ... 'To what extent' implies a causual relationship and that would certainly be a contentious proposition. \n\nSecondly, what arrangements are you talking about, and what developments? It could be said, for arguments sake, that last month's elections is the only development in the last 20 years that could logically be ascribed the colonial era - after all, the Britons invented democracy and gave it away to its colonies. \n\nMuseveni being a dictator is a result of Museveni being a dictator and not colonial administration ...
80106
Well, if you want a civil rights leader there's Martin Luther King Jr. But, if you're wanting a really interesting project, you can do your report on German Dictator, Adolf Hitler. That's just two of the thousands of possibilities.
763789
Human rights laywer from Zimbabwe, if I am not mistaken. \n\nOpponent of Apartheid, etc.
663767
The worst things that have happened lately is in the country of Rwanda. A genocide in where 800,000 people, including women and children were viciously tortured, raped, beaten and killed.\n\nRwanda was a Belgium colony before being Rwanda. In order to have more effective control over their dominions they divided all people in two distinct social classes: HUTUS and TUTSIS, they are slightly different.\n\nThey cruelly decided to give TUTSIS all the priviledges, best posts, best housing, best everything, and the price was to be loyal to the Belgian authorities, they even were the Belgian police. \n\nAnd to the HUTUS they treated them like animals, by means of the TUTSIS.\n\nWhen the Belgians left, the country became chaos, ridled with Civil war between this artificially created difference in races.\n\nAfter the assasination of a HUTU president, all hell broke loose, the HUTU government, backed of by the Interhamwe, an illegal militia of killers, began sistematically killing every TUTSI they saw, and very viciously.\n\nBecause Rwanda did not have any important economic interests with no big power, and it did not have any major power country as a friend, no one intervened in helping stop this slaughter, even the UN and our country, the United States, turned their backs on them. NO ONE helped.\nYou can rent the movie Hotel Rwanda. It is very clear there what happened. \n\nThe United States did not want to participate do to the recent memory of what happened to the military personnel we had in Somalia in 1992 (you can see it in the movie BLACK HAWK DOWN), a terrible tragedy for us....\na big tragedy for US soldiers.
599878
Africa's problems are of their own making.  Why people continue to think that writing checks and giving aid to the continent is the answer to its woes are wildly misguided.  The removal of corrupt leaders is key to any advancement.  As long as evil leaders reign, the Continent will remain a mess.  Where are those who promote women's rights when it comes to Africa?  Where are those who who understand that its poverty and famine are a man-made condition (by the current leadership)?  It is unfortunate, but African governments need to be overthrown before economic advancement, women's rights, and hunger, etc, can be overcome.  Any aid needs to have strings attached and should be directed and allocated by those provideding it, not corrupt leaders who steal it and disperse it to cronies and care nothing of their own people.  \n\nGive a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach him to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
965977
No, but then again Europe has had Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, Franco and all of the royals. I think we're still far ahead of the game.
1065388
Current - Nelson Mandela: I marvel at the way he could forgive people for the attrocious things they did to him and other's. He embodies the cure to the human condition. \n\nPast - King Solomon: The wisest man to have graced the earth. Ther wasn't a case/ problem he could not solve. To have his wisdom and just inclination instruct me would leave me awe struck.