When African countries began to gain their freedom, their former colonisers sought to weaken the new states. To do this, they used the very armies they themselves had once formed. For example, when the DR Congo became independent, Belgian officers instigated a mutiny and later participated in the assassination of the first Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba. Similar events occurred across the continent: armies trained according to foreign doctrines overthrew legitimate governments in Ghana, Nigeria, and Togo.
There were also successful examples. Tanzania rejected the British model and created a people's army with a new ideology. In 1979, this army entered Uganda and overthrew the military dictator Idi Amin.
Does foreign military presence on the continent continue today? And how can Africa make its own armies stronger?
