BY FRANCIS DIBBY

The Donald Trump-incited coup on the U.S. legislative body on Wednesday has triggered condemnations by leaders across the world, except those of Africa, with the only exception (to this magazine’s knowledge) of Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa. Not even the leading countries in the region such as Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya or Egypt, have uttered a word, which sadly confirms the region’s quasi-insignificance in world’s affairs. However, some citizens of the continent where democracy has been on a free fall lately, and which has so often been on the receiving end of democratic lessons from the United States, delighted in mocking the failed coup attempt.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe used the opportunity to call for the United States to lift the sanctions that Washington imposed in 2002 over rights abuses under former dictator Robert Mugabe.

The Zimbabwean leader tweeted:

“Last year, President Trump extended painful economic sanctions placed on Zimbabwe, citing concerns about Zimbabwe’s democracy. Yesterday’s events showed that the U.S. has no moral right to punish another nation under the guise of upholding democracy. These sanctions must end.”

The president’s tweet inspired a twitter, malume@bozzie, to tweet:

“BREAKING: President Emerson Mnangagwa has called for calm and says Zimbabwe will continue to monitor the events before deciding whether to impose sanctions on America or not until there’s peaceful transfer of power.”

The image of one of the rebels who stormed the Capitol bare-chested wearing face paint and a horned animal fur hat became a sort of sensation in West Africa, where people took him as the traditional hunter known as dozo. This insurrectionist’s appearance was so similar to the dozo‘s including the talisman—where the dozos draw their magical power from—hanging from his neck.

Fahad Ag Almahmoud, the secretary-general of a Malian armed group, tweeted that his pro-government militia solemnly “condemned the presence of dozos in the Capitol.” He elaborated, also tweeting:

“We are preoccupied by the behavior of some American citizens. We ask the outgoing president to respect the choice of the people.”

Then he rubbed it in:

“We ask the Force du G6 Sahara [a peacekeeping force in Mali] to be ready to bring back order in Washington. Long live a United Africa.”

For French-Burkinabe satirist and cartoonist Damien Glez, Trump is no different from The Gambia’s former dictator Yahya Jammeh who refused to relinquish power after losing 2016’s election: “We often look like those we snub,” Glez wrote in an editorial on the website of the Paris-based newsmagazine Jeune Afrique.

Floribert Anzuluni, the co-ordinator of the Congolese opposition movement Filimbi, said for his part:

“What happened reminds us that human nature, regardless of colour or origin, needs safeguards, education, strong institutions, responsible leadership, to restrain its basic instincts.”