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Earlier this week, an exiled former African president was expected to appear in court for the murder of his predecessor.
This was the case of Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso in the murder trial of Thomas Sankara. Compaore is currently exiled in Ivory Coast and had announced he was going to boycott the trial.
Compaore is not the only African leader in exile. This article looks at three African leaders who were forced out of office and are currently living in exile on the continent.
Yahya Jammeh of The Gambia
Jammeh rose to power in 1994 in a bloodless coup, he remained in charge till 2016 when he lost presidential elections to an opposition coalition candidate and current president Adama Barrow.
Jammeh agreed to leave the country after weeks-long political standoff when he attempted to unilaterally overturn his loss – having called and conceded to Barrow.
Under pressure that a regional ECOWAS force was waiting to depose him, he finally flew into exile in Equatorial Guinea with his family and close aides.
Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso
Sankara, widely known as “Africa’s Che Guevara” was killed at the age of 37 by soldiers during the coup of 15 October 1987.
His ally at the time, Blaise Compaoré, come to power on the back of that coup and remained in office till a popular mass protest forced him out in 2014.
Compaore was granted asylum by Alassane Ouattara in neighbouring Ivory Coast, where he has lived since 2014.
Mengistu Haile Mariam of Ethiopia
Mengistu Haile Mariam was President of Ethiopia from 1974 till 1991 when he was deposed by a rebellion from the country’s north.
He fled a rebellion in 1991 and was granted asylum then Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. An AP reports says Mengistu’s army had helped to train Mugabe’s guerrillas in their struggle for independence from white rule.
Mengistu was convicted in absentia by an Ethiopian court in 2006 of genocide and later sentenced to death, but Zimbabwe has refused to extradite him, the report added.
source: Ghana Web
