The Worst of the Worst - By George B.N.

Ayittey | Foreign Policy Page 1 of 26

The Worst of the Worst

Bad dude dictators and general coconut heads.
BY GEORGE B.N. AYITTEY | JULY/AUGUST 2010

A continent away from Kyrgyzstan, Africans like myself cheered this spring as a
coalition of opposition groups ousted the country's dictator, President Kurmanbek
Bakiyev. "One coconut down, 39 more to harvest!" we shouted. There are at least 40

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dictators around the world today, and approximately 1.9 billion people live under
the grip of the 23 autocrats on this list alone. There are plenty of coconuts to go
around.

The cost of all that despotism has been stultifying. Millions of lives have been lost,
economies have collapsed, and whole states have failed under brutal repression.
And what has made it worse is that the world is in denial. The end of the Cold War
was also supposed to be the "End of History" -- when democracy swept the world
and repression went the way of the dinosaurs. Instead, Freedom House reports that
only 60 percent of the world's countries are democratic -- far more than the 28
percent in 1950, but still not much more than a majority. And many of those aren't
real democracies at all, ruled instead by despots in disguise while the world takes
their freedom for granted. As for the rest, they're just left to languish.

Although all dictators are bad in their own way, there's one insidious aspect of
despotism that is most infuriating and galling to me: the disturbing frequency with
which many despots, as in Kyrgyzstan, began their careers as erstwhile "freedom
fighters" who were supposed to have liberated their people. Back in 2005, Bakiyev
rode the crest of the so-called Tulip Revolution to oust the previous dictator. So
familiar are Africans with this phenomenon that we have another saying: "We
struggle very hard to remove one cockroach from power, and the next rat comes to
do the same thing. Haba!" Darn!

I call these revolutionaries-turned-tyrants "crocodile liberators," joining the ranks of

other fine specimens: the Swiss bank socialists who force the people to pay for
economic losses while stashing personal gains abroad, the quack revolutionaries
who betray the ideals that brought them to power, and the briefcase bandits who

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simply pillage and steal. Here's my list of the world's worst dictators. I have ranked
them based on ignoble qualities of perfidy, cultural betrayal, and economic
devastation. If this account of their evils makes you cringe, just imagine living under
their rule.

Photo Composite by Wind Up Digital

1. KIM JONG IL of North Korea: A personality-cult-cultivating isolationist with

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a taste for fine French cognac, Kim has pauperized his people, allowed famine to run
rampant, and thrown hundreds of thousands in prison camps (where as many as
200,000 languish today) -- all while spending his country's precious few resources
on a nuclear program.
Years in power: 16

KNS/AFP/Getty Images

2. ROBERT MUGABE of Zimbabwe: A liberation "hero" in the struggle for

independence who has since transformed himself into a murderous despot, Mugabe
has arrested and tortured the opposition, squeezed his economy into astounding
negative growth and billion-percent inflation, and funneled off a juicy cut for

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himself using currency manipulation and offshore accounts.

Years in power: 30

DESMOND KWANDE/AFP/Getty Images

3. THAN SHWE of Burma: A heartless military coconut head whose sole

consuming preoccupation is power, Shwe has decimated the opposition with arrests
and detentions, denied humanitarian aid to his people after 2008's devastating
Cyclone Nargis, and thrived off a black market economy of natural gas exports. This
vainglorious general bubbling with swagger sports a uniform festooned with self-
awarded medals, but he is too cowardly to face an honest ballot box.
Years in power: 18

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CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT/AFP/Getty Images

4. OMAR HASSAN AL-BASHIR of Sudan: A megalomaniac zealot who has

quashed all opposition, Bashir is responsible for the deaths of millions of Sudanese
and has been indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes. Bashir's
Arab militias, the janjaweed, may have halted their massacres in Darfur, but they
continue to traffic black Sudanese as slaves (Bashir himself has been accused of
having had several at one point).
Years in power: 21

ASHRAF SHAZLY/AFP/Getty Images

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5. GURBANGULY BERDIMUHAMEDOV of Turkmenistan: Succeeding the

eccentric tyrant Saparmurat Niyazov (who even renamed the months of the year
after himself and his family), this obscure dentist has kept on keeping on with his
late predecessor's repressive policies, explaining that, after all, he bears an "uncanny
resemblance to Niyazov."
Years in power: 4

DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP/Getty Images

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6. ISAIAS AFWERKI of Eritrea: A crocodile liberator, Afwerki has turned his

country into a national prison in which independent media are shut down, elections
are categorically rejected, indefinite military service is mandatory, and the
government would rather support Somali militants than its own people.
Years in power: 17

GERARD CERLES/AFP/Getty Images

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7. ISLAM KARIMOV of Uzbekistan: A ruthless thug ruling since Soviet times,

Karimov has banned opposition parties, tossed as many as 6,500 political prisoners
into jail, and labels anyone who challenges him an "Islamic terrorist." What does he
do with "terrorists" once they are in his hands? Torture them: Karimov's regime
earned notoriety for boiling two people alive and torturing many others. Outside the
prisons, the president's troops are equally indiscriminate, massacring hundreds of
peaceful demonstrators in 2005 after a minor uprising in the city of Andijan.
Years in power: 20

STRINGER/AFP/Getty Images

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8. MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD of Iran: Inflammatory, obstinate, and a

traitor to the liberation philosophy of the Islamic Revolution, Ahmadinejad has
pursued a nuclear program in defiance of international law and the West.
Responsible for countless injustices during his five years in power, the president's
latest egregious offense was leading his paramilitary goons, the Basij, to violently
repress protesters after June 2009's disputed presidential election, which many
believe he firmly lost.
Years in power: 5

ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images

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9. MELES ZENAWI of Ethiopia: Worse than the former Marxist dictator he

ousted nearly two decades ago, Zenawi has clamped down on the opposition, stifled
all dissent, and rigged elections. Like a true Marxist revolutionary, Zenawi has
stashed millions in foreign banks and acquired mansions in Maryland and London
in his wife's name, according to the opposition -- even as his barbaric regime collects
a whopping $1 billion in foreign aid each year.
Years in power: 19

TONY KARUMBA/AFP/Getty Images

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10. HU JINTAO of China: A chameleon despot who beguiles foreign investors

with a smile and a bow, but ferociously crushes political dissent with brutal
abandon, Hu has an iron grip on Tibet and is now seeking what can only be
described as new colonies in Africa from which to extract the natural resources his
growing economy craves.
Years in power: 7

Jason Lee-Pool/Getty Images

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11. MUAMMAR AL-QADDAFI of Libya: An eccentric egoist infamous for his

indecipherably flamboyant speeches and equally erratic politics, Qaddafi runs a
police state based on his version of Mao's Red Book -- the Green Book -- which
includes a solution to "the Problem of Democracy." Repressive at home,
Qaddafi masquerades as Africa's king of kings abroad (the African Union had to
politely insist that he step down as its rotating head).
Years in power: 41

AFP/GETTY IMAGES

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12. BASHAR AL-ASSAD of Syria: A pretentious despot trying to fit into his
father's shoes (they're too big for him), Assad has squandered billions on foreign
misadventures in such places as Lebanon and Iraq while neglecting the needs of the
Syrian people. His extensive security apparatus ensures that the population doesn't
complain.
Years in power: 10

BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images

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13. IDRISS DÉBY of Chad: Having led a rebel insurgency against a former
dictator, Déby today faces a similar challenge -- from one of his own former cabinet
officials, among others. To repel would-be coup leaders, Déby has drained social
spending accounts to equip the military, co-opted opposition-leader foes, and is now
building a moat around the capital, N'Djamena.
Years in power: 20

PASCAL GUYOT/AFP/Getty Images

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14. TEODORO OBIANG NGUEMA MBASOGO of Equatorial Guinea:

Obiang and his family literally own the economy, having reportedly amassed a
fortune exceeding $600 million while the masses are left in desperate poverty.
Equatorial Guinea's extraordinary oil wealth puts its GDP per capita on par with
many European states -- if only it were evenly shared. Instead, revenues remain a
"state secret."
Years in power: 31

JEROME DELAY/AFP/Getty Images

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15. HOSNI MUBARAK of Egypt: A senile and paranoid autocrat whose sole
preoccupation is self-perpetuation in office, Mubarak is suspicious of even his own
shadow. He keeps a 30-year-old emergency law in place to squelch any opposition
activity and has groomed his son, Gamal, to succeed him. (No wonder only 23
percent of Egyptians bothered to vote in the 2005 presidential election.)
Years in power: 29

ATTILA KISBENEDEK/AFP/Getty Images

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16. YAHYA JAMMEH of Gambia: This eccentric military buffoon has vowed to
rule for 40 years and claims to have discovered the cure for HIV/AIDS. (Jammeh
also claims he has mystic powers and will turn Gambia into an oil-producing
country; no luck yet.) A narcissist at heart, the dictator insists on being addressed as
His Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr. Yahya Abdul-Azziz Jemus
Junkung Jammeh.
Years in power: 16

ISSOUF SANOGO/AFP/Getty Images

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17. HUGO CHÁVEZ of Venezuela: The quack leader of the Bolivarian

Revolution, Chávez promotes a doctrine of participatory democracy in which he is
the sole participant, having jailed opposition leaders, extended term limits
indefinitely, and closed independent media.
Years in power: 11

MIGUEL GUTIERREZ/AFP/Getty Images

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18. BLAISE COMPAORÉ of Burkina Faso: A tin-pot despot with no vision and
no agenda, save self-perpetuation in power by liquidating opponents and stifling
dissent, Compaoré has lived up to the low standards of his own rise to power, after
murdering his predecessor, Thomas Sankara, in a 1987 coup.
Years in power: 23

FETHI BELAID/AFP/Getty Images

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19. YOWERI MUSEVENI of Uganda: After leading a rebel insurgency that took
over Uganda in 1986, Museveni declared: "No African head of state should be in
power for more than 10 years." But 24 years later, he is still here, winning one
"coconut election" after another in which other political parties are technically legal
but a political rally of more than a handful of people is not.
Years in power: 24

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CHRIS JACKSON/Getty Images

20. PAUL KAGAME of Rwanda: A liberator who saved the Tutsis from
complete extermination in 1994, Kagame now practices the same ethnic apartheid
he sought to end. His Rwandan Patriotic Front dominates all levers of power: the
security forces, the civil service, the judiciary, banks, universities, and state-owned
corporations. Those who challenge the president are accused of being a hatemonger
or divisionist and arrested.
Years in power: 10

SHAUN CURRY/AFP/Getty Images

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21. RAÚL CASTRO of Cuba: Afflicted with intellectual astigmatism, the second
brother Castro is pitifully unaware that the revolution he leads is obsolete, an
abysmal failure, and totally irrelevant to the aspirations of the Cuban people. He
blames the failure of the revolution on foreign conspiracies -- which he then uses to
justify even more brutal clampdowns.
Years in power: 2

JOE RAEDLE/Getty Images

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22. ALEKSANDR LUKASHENKO of Belarus: An autocrat and former

collective farm chairman, Lukashenko maintains an iron grip on his country,
monitoring opposition movements with a secret police distastefully called the KGB.
His brutal style of governance has earned him the title "Europe's last dictator"; he
even gave safe haven to Kyrgyzstan's toppled leader when that country rose up this
spring.
Years in power: 16

AFP/Getty Images

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23. PAUL BIYA of Cameroon: A suave bandit who has reportedly amassed a
personal fortune of more than $200 million and the mansions to go with it, Biya has
co-opted the opposition into complete submission. Not that he's worried about
elections; he has rigged the term limit laws twice to make sure the party doesn't end
anytime soon.
Years in power: 28

NEXT: The Central Republic: A Literal Disaster

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George B.N. Ayittey, a native of Ghana, is president of the Free Africa

Foundation in Washington. His book, The March of Freedom: Defeating
Dictators in Africa and Around the World, will be published in 2011.

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