Remembering Ahmed Sekou Toure as Guinea Turns 50
By Norman Otis Richmond
I have a confession -- I am addicted to Radio Netherlands. It is not even a 50/ 50 love; it is more of a love / hate thing. I love their International flavour. Here is where I can hear about what is happening from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. However, their coverage of African affairs on many occasions makes me want to puke.
The West African nation of Guinea turned 50 on October 2. A recent feature on Radio Netherlands, Bridges with Africa, "Guinea at 50: Going through a massive mid-life crisis" made my blood run cold. It was a one-side attack on Guinea's first president, Ahmed Sekou Touré (b. Guinea, January 9, 1922; d. 26 March 1984).
As a youth Touré, along with Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah, the Congo's Patrice Lumumba and Algeria's Ahmed Ben Bella were some of the leaders that I and many of my generation identified with.
While only a fool would attempt to defend the current regimes, President Lansana Conte, only a bigger fool would attempt to denigrate the role that Toure played in the struggle for World African Liberation. Lansana has been the head of state of Guinea since the death of Toure in 1984. He took power in a military coup shortly after Toure's death. A professional military man, he actually fought against the heroic Algerian people on the side of the French, during their war of liberation against colonialism.
However, he did fight against the French for the independence of Guinea after his involvement in Algeria. Today, Guinea is one of the poorest countries on earth.
Touré helped lead Guinea to independence from French colonial rule in 1958. In Cameroun, an armed uprising began in 1955 when the UPC (Union des Populations de Cameroun) was declared illegal. UPC had demanded the withdrawal of French troops, an end to Cameroun's status as a United Nations mandate, and a revolutionary land reform with the slogan, "the land to those who till it". Without protest the UN allowed the French troops to violently crush the revolt. Western history books seldom write about the revolt in the Cameroun.
A trade unionist, Touré was able to help lead his nation to independence by proclaiming," We prefer dignity in poverty to affluence in slavery."
After secondary schooling, he worked as a clerk and trade union organizer, becoming a founder of the Rassemblement Democratique Africain in 1946. His political base in Guinea depended in part on unionized urban workers, in part on rural opposition to the system of administrative chieftaincy imposed by the French. This enabled him to lead the local section of the RDA, the Parti Democratique de Guinée (PDG), and to emerge along with the leaders of the UPC as one of the most radical of the nationalist leaders in French West Africa.
African people will remember Touré as a great Pan Africanist who attempted to unite Africa and Africans world-wide. It was Touré, along with Nkrumah and Mali's Modibo Keita, who attempted to form a United States of Africa in the 1960s. Nkrumah asked the Congo's Patrice Lumumba to join this alliance before his assassination on January 17, 1961.
Guinea was one of the first African nations to open its doors to Overseas Africans. Six years after Guinea's independence, a delegation from the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) visited Guinea on the invitation of Touré. The politically astute Harry Belafonte made the arrangements. Belafonte is a direct descent of the "tallest tree in our forest", Paul Robeson.
Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture) has said that Fannie Lou Hamer, the Mississippi-born freedom fighter who made the statement, "I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired", was one of the people who benefited from Touré and Belafonte's gesture. Hamer loved the experience and conveyed it to Ture.
"Oh, Stokely, the president came to visit. Oh, he was so handsome, all in his white robes, and he was so kind". Despite the language gap, she had spoken with everyone she'd met. "Oh Stokely, those people be jes' like us. The way they fix they hair, some of them. How they stand, how they walk, even the way they carry they babies."
It was Touré who gave a base to the liberation forces in another West African nation, so-called Portuguese Guinea. The movement there was led by one of the world's foremost theoreticians, Amilcar Cabral (September 13, 1924-January 20, 1973). Cabral was the leader of the PAIGC (The African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde and Guinea). The former French colony of Guinea, became known as Guinea-Conakry and the Portuguese colony came to be known as Guinea –Bissau.
The Portuguese invaded Guinea November 1970 with the intent to assassinate Toure and Cabral. The Portuguese colonialist made a sensational attempt to invade Guinea-Conakry. They were knocked out in early Mike Tyson fashion.
The PAIGC started the armed struggle against Portuguese colonialism in 1963. But in the following years the Portuguese suffered defeat after defeat. Toure's government support the PAIGC completely.
Mai Palmberg, the editor of the book, "The Struggle for Africa" discussed the aborted invasion. Said Palmberg, "The invasion proved to be a total fiasco, because PAIGC and Guinea's defense forces were able to respond quickly and drive the enemy out. It was later revealed that West Germany and France had supported the Portuguese invasion, and that their representatives in Conakry had assisted the invasion forces."
While it is true that Touré’s relationship cooled with the Soviet Union in his later years, he nevertheless cooperated with them against Apartheid South Africa. When Apartheid South Africans invaded Angola, the progressive forces worldwide united with Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA). The forces of reaction supported Apartheid South Africa and puppet groups like the National Liberation Front for Angola (FNLA) and the National Union for the Total Independent of Angola UNITA.
Washington expressed its disappointment and irritation at Touré’s transgression and warned that it would affect relations between the two countries.
Touré was defiant, informing the Soviet ambassador:'You have permanent and unconditional permission to use Conakry airport for all flights relating to Angola ".
How will history evaluates Touré? I believe the revolutionary forces of the world will hold him up as a person who was on the right side of history.
As for Radio Netherlands, they are merely the mouth piece for imperialism and history will reflect that the word of Apartheid is of Dutch origin.
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Norman Richmond is a Toronto-based writer/broadcaster/human rights activist. Richmond can be heard on CKLN-FM 88.1 http://www.ckln.fm Thursday’s on Diasporic Music 8pm to 10pm and Saturday’s on Saturday Morning Live 10am to 1pm He can be reached norman@ckln.fm
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La décolonisation et l’héritage colonial
Guerre secrète contre la Guinée
Pendant quinze ans, de 1958 à 1973, les services spéciaux français ont mené une guerre subversive pour renverser le dirigeant de la Guinée, Sékou Touré, et ramener ce pays dans le giron de l’ancienne «métropole».
« Déstabilisez la Guinée ! »
C’est à la fin août 1958 que de Gaulle, alors président du conseil, réalise sa fameuse tournée pour proposer sa «politique d’association» aux colonies africaines dans le cadre de la communauté française. Ses conseillers ont suggéré qu’il se rende d’abord à Conakry, la capitale de la Guinée, où l’accueil risque d’être plus crispé qu’à Dakar.
Pourtant, la biographie de Sékou Touré n’en fait pas un révolutionnaire à tous crins. Il a en effet suivi un cursus politique très classique. En octobre 1946, il a participé au congrès de Bamako, ou s’est créé le Rassemblement Démocratique Africain (RDA), réunissant des partis politiques de huit colonies françaises d’Afrique subsaharienne. L’année suivante, une section locale, le Parti démocratique de Guinée (PDG), a vu le jour, dont Sékou Touré devient le secrétaire général en 1952. Quatre ans plus tard, le voici simultanément député à l’assemblée nationale française et maire de Conakry. Enfin, en 1957, celui que l’on surnomme ‘Sily’ (l’«éléphant ») est membre du Conseil de l’Afrique occidentale française à Dakar et vice-président du conseil de gouvernement. Il est bien décidé à accueillir le général d’égal à égal.
Pour éviter tout quiproquo à l’annonce de la visite de l’homme du 18 Juin, Sékou Touré a remis son discours à Jaques Foccart quelques jours plus tôt. Mais « Monsieur Afrique » ne l’a pas transmis à de Gaulle. Résultat : le 25 aout le « Grand Charles » tombe de haut quand il entend le ton militant du dirigeant guinéen, qui estime l’indépendance totale préférable à l’association : « Nous préférons la liberté dans la pauvreté à la richesse dans l’esclavage ». La déception du General s’exaspère le lendemain, quand, débarquant à Dakar, des pancartes du Parti du regroupement africain (PRA) réclament aussi l’indépendance complète pour le Sénégal. De plus, ni Léopold Sédar Senghor ni Mamadou Dia (bientôt respectivement président et premier ministre du Sénégal) ne se sont déplacés à l’aéroport pour lui souhaiter la bienvenue. De là à penser que l’intransigeance de Sékou Touré va faire tache d’huile dans toute l’ancienne « Afrique française »…
Deux mois passent. À peine les guinéens ont-ils dit « non » au référendum du 28 septembre sur le projet de constitution de la Ve République prônant l’association- ils sont les seuls à le faire en Afrique-, que Sékou Toure devient la « bête noire » des services spéciaux français. Devenue indépendante le 2 octobre 1958, la Guinée est immédiatement reconnue par la Chine et l’URSS. Début 1959, elle adhère a l’ONU. A l’Elysée- de Gaulle a été élu président avant Noel-, Jacques Foccart donne le feu vert : « Déstabilisez la Guinée! »
Baptême du feu pour le secrétaire général aux Affaires africaines et malgaches : les opérations vont aller crescendo sous la houlette technique du colonel Tristan Richard, responsable du secteur Afrique-Moyen-Orient au service de documentation extérieure et de contre-espionnage (SDECE). Son principal relais, Maurice Robert, chef de poste SDECE à Dakar, active une dizaine d’« honorables correspondants » dans l’entourage du leader guinéen ainsi que dans l’opposition.
« J’ai été recruté par les services français, témoignera plus tard Bangoura Karim-animateur du Bloc africain de Guinée (BAG), puis secrétaire d’Etat guinéen aux Mines et à l’Industrie-, par l’intermédiaire de Jacques Périer, qui représentait les anciens établissement français de l’Inde. En juillet 1959, je le rencontrai chez lui avenue Raymond-Poincaré pour lui faire mon premier rapport. La consigne secrète des services secrets français était, à l’époque, d’entrer dans le gouvernement d’union et dans l’administration, et de poursuivre le travail pour une prédominance française, sur tous les plans, notamment économique, culturel et politique.»
« C’est l’intendant militaire Arens qui ma recruté », admettra également Keita Noumandian, le nouveau chef d’état-major interarmes, ancien tirailleur sénégalais qui a participé à la libération de Marseille avec l’armée de Lattre en aout 1944. « Les premiers contacts ont été établis par le capitaine Boureau, officiellement attaché de presse à l’ambassade de France en 1960. De temps en temps, le capitaine Boureau passait à mon domicile pour prendre les renseignements sur l’armée, le moral des troupes, les rapports de l’armée avec le gouvernement ».
« Boureau »? Il s’agit de Boureau-Mitrecey, le même officier qu’on a vu animer la Main rouge à Tanger pour saborder des navires bourrés d’armes en partance pour l’Algérie [p.50]. Ce spécialiste du sabotage doublé d’un « officier traitant » exceptionnel recrute des opposants guinéens à la politique. Il est venu remplacer l’«attaché culturel», l’homme du SDECE que l’on estime grillé et que Robert a rapatrié dare-dare. Car dès les premiers jours de l’indépendance, des experts d’Europe de l’est, surtout ceux du StB, la police secrète tchécoslovaque, habituée à opérer contre les Français, sont venus former les hommes de la sécurité guinéenne. L’afflux de conseillers de l’Est conforte a posteriori les motifs d’isoler la Guinée et de la déstabiliser.
Guérilla des frontières et monnaie de singe
De son poste de Dakar, le commandant Robert et des agents sous couverture resserrent les boulons et effectuent des liaisons avec des hommes d’affaires enclins à rester dans le pays, les «Français de Guinée», dont 30 000 planteurs. C’est le cas d’un agent du SDECE qui gère la boutique des souvenirs à l’Hôtel de France à Conakry, où il surveille des experts russes, tchèques et chinois.
Simultanément, dans un grand plan d’ensemble géré par Robert, de concert avec Foccart, la Piscine décide d’impulser une guérilla des frontières dans la zone de Fouta Djalon, grâce à une petite armée composée essentiellement de Peuls. Le visage barré d’une moustache très British, le colonel Freddy Bauer débarque à Dakar avec des instructions du service Action. Cet ancien de l’Ecole de brousse de la demi-brigade SAS en Indochine et du 11e Choc en Algérie est un baroudeur de premier choix, mais il ne passe pas inaperçu. Les caches d’armes établies sur la frontière de la Côte-D’ivoire et du Sénégal sont détectées et l’opération Fouta Djalon finit mal pour les «harkis guinéens». Senghor avait fait savoir qu’il acceptait qu’on lance ces missions, mais à condition d’agir vite et discrètement. C’est raté ! Quant à Houphouët-Boigny, favorable au départ, il finit par se fâcher et agonir d’insultes le haut-commissaire de France, Yves Guena.
C’est pourquoi la Piscine a doublé ses réseaux. A l’insu de Robert, la mission Jimbo de Marcel Chaumien alias «Monsieur Armand», est plus discrète. Ce dernier appartient au servie 7 du SDECE, celui des opérations spéciales, et «traite» le réseau d’honorables correspondants dans les compagnies aériennes Air France et UAT, dirigées par un ami du service, ancien pilote de l’Espagne républicaine, Roger Loubry (qui réalisa, en 1948, le premier vol Paris-New York à bord d’un Constellation d’Air France). Il ne néglige pas les compagnies de transport au sol, comme la société « Taxis services », dirigée par Valentin T. à Conakry.
Les opérations s’intensifient en 1959 : ainsi, l’ancien radio de Chaumien pendant la résistance antinazie, Roger Soupiron (alias « JIM 524 »), se rend incognito à Conakry, puis il monte une opération spéciale à Freetown, en Sierra Leone, avec son agent « JIM 570 ». Objectif : faire rater la visite de Sékou Touré en Grande-Bretagne, à l’invitation chaleureuse de la Reine Elizabeth ! L’entente cordiale n’est pas de mise.
Entre-temps, à Paris, le général Grossin voit grand. Le chef de la Piscine a eu personnellement l’idée de monter l’opération : ruiner l’économie guinéenne en l’inondant de fausse monnaie. Le colonel Guy Marienne (alias «Morvan»), patron du service 7, fait fabriquer de la monnaie de singe dans l’imprimerie secrète du SDECE-des billets de 5, 10,100, 500 Sylis (du nom de l’« Eléphant »)-au moment ou la banque centrale de la République de Guinée s’apprête à produire ses propres billets en mars 1960. La banque de France, sur instructions du général de Gaulle, a déjà rendu inutilisables trois million de francs CFA, demeurés à Conakry, en refusant de faire paraitre le décret d’émission qui authentifie d’une lettre chaque billet selon le territoire africain. Autrement dit, les francs CFA en provenance de Guinée ne sont pas acceptables au Mali ou au Sénégal. Alors que Sékou Touré fait imprimer à Prague sa propre monnaie, le SDECE introduit ses faux billets en masse et inonde le marché guinéen.
« Sékou Touré se retrouve avec une monnaie inexportable, ruinée, aux abois », expliquera plus tard Marcel Leroy (alias «Finville»), le numéro deux du service 7 qui a également contribué à cette situation catastrophique en se rendant a Conakry. Il ajoute : «Il est a plat ventre, comme le souhaitait le General. Mais pas devant la France. Il se tourne définitivement vers les régimes socialistes. Les Tchèques prennent en main l’administration, encadrent la police. Le folklore bon enfant fait place à la terreur d’Etat.»
Pourtant, contrairement à ce que l’on a souvent dit, le départ du général de Gaulle en 1969 n’empêche ni Jacques Foccart-un temps mis sur la touche- ni le SDECE-alors dirigé par Alexandre de Marenches-de poursuivre les opérations contre la Guinée.
Les services portugais au secours du SDECE
Apres avoir raté le renversement de Sékou Touré en solo, le SDECE s’appuie sur des services spéciaux portugais, colonisateurs de la Guinée-Bissau voisine, où ils combattent la guérilla d’Amilcal Cabral, le chef du Parti africain pour l’indépendance de la Guinée et des îles du Cap-Vert (PAIGC). En 1970, le SDECE monte de concert avec la Police internationale de défense de l’Etat (PIDE/DGS) et les renseignements militaires portugais (DINFO) l’opération Mar verde, dans le but de renverser Sékou Touré. Le dictateur Marcelo Caetano y a tout intérêt : Il espère, grâce aux français, détruire le soutient logistique du leader de Conakry au PAIGC. Mais l’opération va capoter.
Dans un livre sur les renseignements militaires portugais, publié en 1998, la journaliste d’investigation Paula Serra cite le comandant Alpoin Calvao, chef de l’invasion de novembre 1970, coté portugais. Son bilan de l’opération n’est guère flatteur, ni pour le SDCE, ni pour les services de Lisbonne : « Nous avons tout raté faute de renseignements de qualité ! Nos informations aussi bien politiques et stratégiques que tactiques et opérationnelles étaient quasiment nulles… »
Cependant, le 20 janvier 1973, Amilcal Cabral est assassiné (par des membres de son parti manipulés par les services portugais). Et Barbieri Cardoso, le patron des opérations africaines de la PIDE, décide que c’est le moment ou jamais de porter l’estocade aux indépendantistes. Rencontrant fréquemment Alexandre de Marenches, le Portugais n’a aucun mal à obtenir l’appui de la Piscine dans une nouvelle initiative baptisée « opération Saphir ».
Le principe en est simple : c’est une partie de billard. Le PIDE et le SDECE infiltrent le PAIGC, affaibli par la disparition de son chef charismatique ainsi que par les tensions politiques et ethniques qui prévalent entre Guinéens et Cap-Verdiens. Le but recherché, grâce à deux agents provocateurs de la PIDE infiltrés à la direction du mouvement de libération, est que les Cap-Verdiens fassent sécession, encouragés par Sékou Touré, et que les Guinéens, furieux, s’opposent à ce dernier. Mieux encore, dans un rapport du 3 avril 1973, la PIDE explique à ses amis du SDECE comment on arrivera à atomiser la faction guinéenne du PAIGC entre pro-Sékou Touré et pro-occidentaux, dont l’un des groupes dirigé par Samba Djalo, le chef de la sécurité du PAIGC dans la région nord, et basé au Sénégal, accepterait de monter l’assassinat du dirigeant de Conakry.
Quatre hauts fonctionnaires affidés à la PIDE dans cette capitale sont de mèche avec les comploteurs regroupés au sein d’un Front de libération nationale de Guinée (FLNG). Le plan final est prévu pour juillet 1974. Un rapport du SDECE du 4 avril présente les détails concernant les communications et le transport de troupes par avion. Le compte à rebours de Saphir se décline ainsi : « 16-23 avril : réunion dans un pays africain avec les dissidents du PAIGC, les Guinéens (Conakry), etc. Etablissement du plan d’action ; 22 avril-5 mai : instruction des dirigeants par nos techniciens en Europe. Réunion possible à Bruxelles (sans les gens du PAIGC) ; fin mai-début juin : installation du matériel et du personnel ; 2e et 3e semaines de juin : entrainement du personnel ; fin juin, début juillet : lancer l’action ! ».
Mais les services spéciaux peuvent-ils altérer le cours de l’Histoire ? Le 25 avril 1974, Barbieri Cardoso a fait le voyage à Paris pour finaliser l’opération Saphir avec Marenches. Dès que ce dernier le reçoit à la Piscine, il interroge l’homme de la PIDE : « Savez-vous ce qui se passe chez nous ? » Le Portugais fait la moue : « C’est la Révolution, mon cher ! ». En effet, la « révolution des Œillets » vient d’éclater, selon un plan conçu par des capitaines démocrates de l’armée coloniale. Fort de ses amitiés françaises, Cardoso pourra rester à Paris, chaperonné par le colonel Jacques de Lageneste, chargé des liaisons extérieures du SDECE. Le même, qui un peu plus tard, prendra langue avec le général Antonio de Spinola, ancien gouverneur de Guinée-Bissau, pour organiser la contre-révolution au Portugal…
Le 24 janvier 1976, le journal Expresso de Lisbonne publie des documents de l’opération Saphir, définitivement enterrée, d’autant plus que des relations diplomatiques franco-guinéennes ont été rétablies en 1975. C’est l’occasion de libérer des « espions français » détenus en Guinée, souvent victimes de la paranoïa d’un régime poussé dans ses retranchements. Ainsi Jacques Marcelier, arrêté et interné au camp boiro. Cet ancien militant socialiste, propriétaire de cinémas, avait été élu en 1957 sur la liste du RDA et s’était rallié à Sékou Touré. A l’indépendance, il se fixe dans son pays d’adoption et milite dans le parti au pouvoir, avant d’être soudain dénoncé comme « espion » suite au complot franco-portugais de 1970. Libéré en 1975, il ne s’en remettra pas et mourra de chagrin cinq ans plus tard à Paris.
Sa trajectoire illustre le gâchis provoqué par la guerre secrète lancée par Foccart et le SDECE contre la Guinée. La révolution des œillets correspond à l’arrivée de Valery Giscard d’Estaing à la présidence et bientôt Foccart sera écarté des affaires africaines, non sans laisser derrière lui des réseaux actifs.
A la fin de sa vie, il a livré une anecdote parlante sur ces menées anti-guinéennes dans une interview fleuve réalisée par le journaliste Philippe Gaillard : « Monsieur Afrique » avoue : « Nous avons déjà parlé de l’affaire montée contre Sékou Touré à partir du Sénégal en avril 1960. Le général [de Gaulle] l’a apprise par la protestation que lui a adressé Mamadou Dia. Il était furieux. « Qu’est-ce que c’est que cette histoire ? Qui a pu faire cela ? » Il aurait pu exploser, me demander de quel droit j’avais pris de telles initiatives. Mais je lui ai donné des explications. Il a eu un commentaire laconique : « Dommage que vous n’ayez pas réussi ».
Pour en savoir plus
Philippe BERNERT, SDECE, service 7, Presse de la Cité, Paris, 1980.
Roger FALIGOT et Pascal KROP, La Piscine, Seuil, Paris, 1985.
Jacques FOCCART, Foccart parle. Entretiens avec Philippe Gaillard, tome 1,
Fayard/Jeune Afrique, Paris, 1995.
Paul SERRA, DINFO. Historias secretas do servico de informacoes militares, Dom Quixote, Lisbonne, 1998.
Extrait : pages.124-130, Histoire Secrète de la Ve République, Roger Faligot et Jean Guisnel, Editions la découverte, Paris, 2006.
Politics of Betrayal in Ghana and Guinea
by PaAssensoh, A B
In his exiled years in Guinea after his overthrow in February 1966, President Kwame Nkrumah made strenuous efforts to return to power. But, as Dr A. B. Assensoh, who worked with Nkrumah in Conakry reveals, some stalwarts of Nkrumah's party (the CPP) were in the pay of the military junta which had overthrown him, and thus helped to thwart his efforts to regain power. As Ghana celebrates 50 years of independence, the time is here for those who played the "politics of betrayal" to take a good, hard look at themselves.
On 13 May 1972, at the elaborate state funeral held for Nkrumah in Conakry, Guinea, Amilcar Cabral, the charismatic leader of Guinea Bissau, seemed to sum it all up when he said in his powerful tribute to Nkrumah: "Nobody can fell its that Nkrumah died of a cancer of the throat or some other illness. No, Nkrumah was killed by the cancer of betrayal which we must uproot front Africa if we really want to bring about the final liquidation of imperialist domination from this continent... As an African adage says, 'those who dare to spit at the sky only dirty their own faces'... We, the liberation movements, will notforgive those who betrayed Nkrumah. The people of Ghana will not forgive. Africa will not forgive. Progressive mankind will not forgive. Let those who still have to rehabilitate themselves in the eyes of Africa make haste to do so. It is not yet too late."
Incidentally, as part of the intrigue of betrayals, Cabrai himself became a victim of a more sinister "cancer of betrayal" when he was assassinated in Conakry in January 1973, less than a year after his powerful speech.
In Nkrumah's exile years in Conakry, the "cancer of betrayal" metamorphosed into varied scenarios, including a 22 November 1970 attack by Portuguese warships full of mercenaries whose aim was to topple the Guinean government under President Sekou Toure and, possibly, seize Nkrumah, Toure and Cabral, the revolutionary trio.
As it were, Guinean forces repulsed the attack but, in the context of betrayal and disbelief, Nkrumah - who had been declared hale and hearty by Vietnamese, Russian and Chinese medical experts - died two years after the attack (from what is now believed to have been slow poisoning) and, a year after Nkrumah' death on 27 April 1972, Cabrai was assassinated (in January 1973).
When Nkrumah arrived in Conakry on 2 March 1966, six days after his overthrow, he was made a co-president of Guinea by President Sekou Toure. As a benefactor of Guinea, to whom Nkrumah's government had given a loan of £10m when the colonial master, France, in an immense seizure of pique, took away every movable object in the country because Guinea refused to become "second-class French citizens" and opted for independence, Nkrumah was seen by many Gumeans as very deserving of the co-presidential honour bestowed on him at a large political rally in Conakry.
Additionally, Sekou Toure declared Nkrumah, his pan-Africanist brother, the co-secretary-general of the ruling PDG party. Nkrumah was also settled in Villa Syli, a comfortable government guest house near the sea, from where he worked on several books published in his exile years.
He had earlier lived temporarily in Belle Vue, another government guest house, but it was too small for him and the large presidential entourage which had accompanied him on his cancelled peace mission to Hanoi, Vietnam, during that country's protracted war with America.
From Conakry, Nkrumah made very strenuous but fruitless efforts to regain power in Ghana. The query has always been why he was unsuccessful? For example, the most serious effort to unseat the military junta that overthrew him - the National Liberation Council (NLC) - was the 17 April 1967 counter-coup by lieutenants S. Arthur and M. Yeboah, in which General Emmanuel K. Kotoka, the NLC chairman, and some military officers were killed.
There were several other plots and counter-plots in Nkrumah's name, but as a result of varied levels of betrayals, none was successful. In the midst of all this, the Portuguese ships attacked on 22 November 1970 with the aim of seizing Sekou Toure, Nkrumah and Amilcar Cabral.
In an early morning assault, and relying on information from Guinea-based informants, the Portuguese attacks were directed at the Belle Vue (but Nkrumah was no longer living there) as well as the official presidential residence in Conakry, and another one housing Cabrai. Guinean forces repulsed the attacks and several mercenaries were captured, including their alleged leader, one Captain Fernando.
In January 1971, the Guinean parliament was constituted into a People's Supreme Court for the trial of cabinet members, governors, military officers, political functionaries and some foreigners implicated in the attacks to overthrow Toure's government.
Meanwhile, Nkrumah became so seriously ill that he had to leave Guinea in August 1971 for Bucharest, Romania, for medical treatment. For security reasons, only two trusted Ghanaians and a Guinean official, Camara Sana, accompanied Nkrumah.
He was still in hospital in Bucharest when, on 13 January 1972, Colonel Ignatius Kutu Acheampong overthrew Dr KoH Abrefa Busia's government which had been elected into power in Ghana in 1969.
Nkrumah and his supporters wished that the coup leaders would extend an invitation for him to be brought back home, at least to die on Ghanaian soil. Instead, as reported in medical records, Nkrumah's cancer had spread in his body and he died very early in the morning of 27 April 1972. It was a sad day for Africa and pan-Africanism.
His remains were taken to Conakry on 30 April 1972 instead of Ghana. The funeral was held over two days (13-14 May). It was not until July 1972 that Acheampong's regime agreed to bring Nkrumah's remains to Ghana tor re-burial at Nkroful, his hometown, in the Western Region, as Nkrumah had wished.
Acheampong acceded to conditions set by President Sekou Toure, among which was that Nkrumah would be given a state burial in Ghana. Therefore, on 7 July 1972, Nkrumahs remains were flown in a Guinean Air Force plane to Accra. The reburial took place two days later.
Many years later, during the government of President Jerry Rawlings, Nkrumah's remains were exhumed and finally buried in a new mausoleum in central Accra built on the spot where he had declared independence in 1957.
The betrayals
When Nkrumah settled down in Guinea, he busied himself with extensive reading, writing, studying French, and learning how to drive, all of which were, according to his supporters, part of the preparations towards regaining power in Ghana. Yet, all his efforts were aborted tor various reasons, including sheer betrayal of his plans.
He continued to broadcast to Ghana, especially on independence anniversaries. He also wrote pamphlets, including Ghana: the Way Out (May 1968) in which he urged his fellow Ghanaians to eschew non-violent action and, now, resort to force to overthrow the NLC, regime.
From London's Fleet Street, Douglas Rogers, editor of the Nkrumah-government owned Africa and the World monthly magazine was publishing very sophisticated analyses of the Ghanaian situation, interspersed with editorials for the overthrow of the NLC regime.
Panaf Books Limited, Nkrumah's publishing company, headed by June Milne as editor, was also housed at the 89 Fleet Street office of the magazine. Also, Ekow Eshun, the loyal London-based head of the overseas wing of Nkrumah's Convention People's. Party (CPP) was coordinating pro-Nkrumah activities rrom London to West African capitals.
Nkrumah also used diverse avenues in Nigeria and other West African nations to recruit journalists and other mobile professionals to help in his efforts to regain power. That was how some of us, as journalists, were recruited, but sadly many of us were betrayed by some leading CPP leaders who were working with us.
My older brother (Anthony Nelson Assensoh) was a district commissioner in Nkrumah' government; he treated the Ashanti Regional commissioner, R. O. Amoako-Atta, as an uncle. Under the influence of the two men, I assisted in the efforts to return Nkrumah to power, but we were badly betrayed.
In fact, between 1966 and 1972, the NLC (supported by its Western friends) actually worked hard to thwart Nkrumah's efforts to return to power. The junta severed diplomatic relations with Guinea for allowing Nkrumah sanctuary in Conakry. As I learnt, however, a friendly (pro-NLC) diplomatic mission in Conakry was used as an intelligence post to monitor Nkrumah's movements and his agents coming in and out og Guinea.
In the end, agents of Ghana's Special Branch (internal security unit attached to the Ghana Police Service) arrested me at the Aflao border between Ghana and Togo.
Ghanaian Foreign Service officers from the Research Bureau (the Foreign Ministry's intelligence unit) were posted to embassies in West Africa to monitor the activities of Nkrumah and his numerous agents.
He knew that the NLC was actively infiltrating his entourage, so he opened intelligence fronts in such capitals as Lagos (Nigeria), Monrovia (Liberia), Cotonou (Benin), Bamako (Mali) and Freetown (Sierra Leone). It was done as a deceptive tactic.
However, the NLC intelligence network, helped by Western intelligence agencies, was very strong. From 1969 to 1971, for example, the late Dr Hilla Limann (a top Research Bureau employee at the time) served as head of the chancellery at the Ghana embassy in Lome, Togo, with responsibility for intelligence and to checkmate pro-Nkrumah activities in logo.
Ironically, in 1979, Limann was elected president of Ghana on the ticket of the People's National Party (PNP), an offshoot of Nkrumah's then banned CPP How a man who worked against Nkrumah and the CPP could inherit his mantle and become president in the name of the CPP political tradition, is the question Nkrumah's followers in Ghana have failed to answer.
It was through the staunch NLC intelligence activities in Togo, Benin, Nigeria and Guinea run by people like Dr Limann that undermined Nkrumah's plans to return to power and continue the good work he had started.
At one point, Ekow Eshun was sent on a secret mission to Cotonou, Benin. Sadly, some top CPP leaders in Ghana who were working as double agents tor the NLC leaked details of Eshun's trip to the military junta in Accra. Eshun duly flew to Cotonou and, like Boye Moses before him, was picked up by NLC agents who took him to Ghana and humiliated him publicly to serve as a lesson to other Nkrumah agents.
Some of us, serving Nkrumah's interests, were also picked up, thanks to the intensified Research Bureau activities in West Africa coordinated by Dr Limann and others.
That is why I often "smile" at the notion that, being very close to the late Alhaji Imoru Egala, simply meant that Limann, educated at the London School of Economics and La Sorbonne in Paris, was a staunch CPP personality. He was not!
It is true that Limann became the PNP presidential candidate through the influence of Nkrumah's former cabinet minister, Alhaji Imoru Egala, hut those who knew Dr Limann's NLC connections insist that the Egala-Limann ethnic solidarity did not, in any way, make the former diplomat a true Nkrumah follower.
The NLC knew that once Nkrumah was alive and in exile in nearby Guinea, the military government could not be as safe as they wanted. The most logical thing, therefore, was to infiltrate Nkrumah's inner circle of former cabinet members and top CPP men and women.
Towards that end, the financial and property records of the ex-CPP men and women were examined. It showed that most of them lived in government-owned bungalows (or houses) at Kanda Estate in Accra.
Even as these CPP stalwarts were thrown into jail, their wives and families continued to live in the bungalows. The NLC threatened to evict them, and to save their families, many of the CPP lenders on whom Nkrumah counted for a return to power, became turncoats and assisted the NLC to thwart Nkrumah's efforts.
There was even the sad situation involving some CPP leaders who planned to establish a hotel in Accra to house Nkrumah's agents who infiltrated into Ghana. They asked Nkrumah for funds for the purpose, and thousands of dollars were reportedly sent through the diplomatic hag of the Malian embassy in Accra.
But when the Malian government, then headed by President Modibo Keita was overthrown in a coup d'etat, the NLC sent General Kwasi Amankwaah Afrifa (who later became the head of the NLC), to Mali to warn the new military junta there about its embassy's pro-Nkrumah activities in Accra.
In fact, several pro-Nkrumah agents were rounded up and either "neutralised" or murdered inside Ghana. It was unsafe to visit the new hotel that was opened in Accra with funds from Nkrnmah. Allegedly, the hotel was called "The Date", which signalled "the date Kwame returns to Ghana, there would be jubilation".
When the records of the NLC intelligence services are declassified, researchers would know which CPP leaders worked tor the NLC, including the men allegedly paid to hive intelligence-related adulterous relationships with the wives of their detained colleagues (or "comrades", as they referred to them).
At one point, the NLC intelligence agencies and Research Bureau diplomats were monitoring every bit of information coming from Guinea. A diplomat once bragged: "Even when Nkrumah coughs in Guinea, we know it and why so."
Therefore, when Amilcar Cabral underscored the "cancer of betrayal" that had killed Nkrumah in 1972, it was neither a gainsaying nor an exaggeration. His words, indeed, shook many anti-Nkrumah elements as well as his treacherous political associates and fortune hunters who undermined his plans to regain power.
In hindsight, the former Zambian president, Kenneth Kaunda, heaped blame on the perpetrators of the 1966 coup when in a New African article (published in February 2006), he wrote, inter alia: "I don't think we (Africans) will ever recover from the 1966 coup"!
"The role of Sekou Toure in 1966 at a crucial stage of Africa's history has not received the attention it deserves". June Milne (former research and editorial assistant of Nkrumah).
" [...] In a broadcast made by Nkrumah to the people of Ghana on 6 March 1966, he declared: "They cannot destroy what we have taken years to build. For what we have achieved is built on rock foundations and is indestructible." He had gone to Guinea after the coup, on the invitation of President Sekou Toure and the Democratic Party of Guinea (PDG). It was a typical Nkrumah response, defiant and resolute, made at a time when the Western media and the military junta in Ghana were gloating over what they claimed was a great victory. If they thought that by removing Nkrumah from power in Ghana they would silence him, and at the same time mortally wound the pan-African movement, they were mistaken. Not only did Nkrumah continue the struggle for a united continent of Africa to which he had dedicated his whole life, but so also did Nkrumaists worldwide. In Nkrumah's words: "One step backwards has been taken. We shall take two forward."
When news of the coup reached him, Nkrumah was in Peking (todays Beijing) en route to the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi, with plans to end the American war in Vietnam. He was too far away for a quick return to Ghana where he may have been able to end the military action.
Leaders of four African countries sent Nkrumah immediate messages of support and invitations. They were the presidents of Egypt (Gamal Abdel Nasser), Mali (Modibo Keita), Guinea (SekouToure), and Tanzania (Julius Nyerere). Nkrumah decided to accept Sekou Toure's invitation. The government of Guinea shared Nkrumah's pan-African objectives, encompassing the liberation of the African people from all forms of social injustice and economic exploitation.
There existed a strong brotherly bond between Nkrumah and Sekou Toure. In addition, Guinea was closest to Ghana, to where Nkrumah was determined to return to carry on his work.
The role of Sekou Toure at this crucial stage of Africa's history has not, in my view, received the attention it deserves. In a speech of welcome made during a mass rally in the Conakry stadium the day after Nkrumah's arrival on 2 March 1966, Sekou Toure declared his intention to step down as president of Guinea to allow Nkrumah to take his place. I know of no other such extraordinary and historic proposal before or since. Sekou Toure's announcement was greeted with thunderous applause. In the event, Nkrumah accepted only to become co-president.
It was the government of Guinea which made it possible for Nkrumah to continue his work after the 1966 coup. He was able to keep in touch with African and world affairs. Freedom fighters, members of progressive organisations worldwide, and leaders of the Black Power struggle in the USA, discussed their problems with him. He was in daily consultation with Sekou Toure and members of the PDG.
It is also to be remembered that when Nkrumah arrived in Guinea, Sekou Toure declared Nkrumah "a universal man". Then, on Nkrumah's death on 27 April 1972, it was Sekou Toure who ordered the words, "The Greatest African", to be engraved on his coffin. He was, I believe, the first to so name Nkrumah.
Contemplating the years between 1957, Ghana's independence, and 1972 when Nkrumah died, I have been re-reading some of my notebooks written during those years when I was Nkrumah's research and editorial assistant. I wrote daily accounts of our many meetings both before 1966, the year of the coup, and afterwards. The value I attach to the notebooks is because they were written at the time. Not from memory or hindsight.
A notebook entry made during the first week in February 1966 is significant because it was made only three weeks before the coup. It was at a time when Nkrumah was preparing to travel on the peace mission to Hanoi. I was with him in his office in the Osu Castle in Accra. He was checking the page proofs of his book, Challenge of the Congo. Occasionally he asked if I thought he had used the most appropriate word in a particular context. "It is your language, not mine." We were suddenly interrupted by the appearance of Foreign Minister Quaison Sackey, to report that he had just received an urgent message from the Ghanaian ambassador in Washington. The US president, Lyndon Johnson, wished to assure Nkrumah that America would stop the bombing of Hanoi to allow his aircraft to land safely. He could, therefore, travel to Vietnam with his peace proposals "in perfect safety".
Why were the Americans so anxious for Nkrumah to leave Ghana - especially when he had suggested peace talks could be held in Accra? For some months, Nkrumah had been working on a peace plan. But a coup to remove him from power was in the final stages of planning. For it to succeed, it was imperative that he was out of the country, and as far away as possible to ensure he would be unable to make a quick return.
In Africa, as elsewhere, military coups have often been carried out when leaders have been absent. For example, Milton Obote, president of Uganda, was attending a Commonwealth conference in Singapore when his government was overthrown. A military coup occurred in Guinea soon after the death of Sekou Toure.
I am reminded, from one of my notebooks, of what Camara Sana, the Guinean protocol officer attending Nkrumah in his Conakry residence, Villa SyIi, once remarked to me: "Sekou Toure will be safe as long as Nkrumah remains a guest in our country." How right he was. For soon after Nkrumah died in the Romanian capital, Bucharest, where he had gone to for medical treatment, the eminent freedom fighter, Amilcar Cabrai, also an honoured guest in Guinea, was assassinated in Conakry. His death was the prelude to that of Sekou Toure in highly suspicious circumstances.
It was said that Toure had suffered a heart attack, and on the advice of a doctor had been flown to America for medical treatment. He had died, it was claimed, on the operating table. I remain unconvinced. For no sooner was his funeral in Conakry over than a military coup took place which overthrew the PDG government. It had clearly been planned well in advance. It was known that Sekou Toure seldom travelled abroad. A corpse is as useful as a leader out of the country.
When I travelled to Guinea, my purpose had been to list Nkrumah's papers and books, and to see that they were being suitably preserved. It was a shock to discover their condition. Although Camara Sana, on Nkrumah's death, had arranged for this important historical material to be stored and sealed in large wooden boxes, these had been broken into and the contents roughly handled by Guinean soldiers who then occupied the Villa.
Evidently disappointed at finding only papers and books, they had tossed them back into the boxes which they left unclosed. This precious material had been exposed to insects, cockroaches, and in one box a family of mice. Also to the damaging effects of a humid, tropical climate. Clearly, it was essential I took the material back with me for safe keeping until a suitable repository could be found where it would be in the care of expert archivists. For several anxious days, I was told not to approach the Villa, and to "lie low". Then, with the help of Camara Sana who had been out of work since the fall of the PDG government, I was able at last to obtain the required documents. I was just in time to save Nkrumah's Conakry papers for posterity.
It is the only time I have been thankful for the ignorance of soldiers. The material, though damaged, had not been destroyed. Unlike in 1966 in Accra, when rampaging soldiers senselessly burned the entire contents of Nkrumah's office in Flagstaff House
Finally, the question of a name for the homeland of all the people of Africa and those of African descent in the diaspora. An entry in my notebook, written while on a visit to Guinea in December 1968, reminds me of what Nkrumah then thought on this matter. After speaking about great countries such as India and China, each comprising many states and peoples with different history, language, culture and religion, he said he thought that a fully unified Africa should be named in a single word: Africa.
Source: "The Coup that disrupted Africa's forward march", The New African. Feb 2006
Former president Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia remembers the Nkrumah and Toure era
I will always remember Kwame Nkrumah. He did a lot for Africa. He was a great pan-Africanist. He inspired many people of Africa towards independence and was a great supporter of the liberation of Southern Africa from apartheid and racism. Truly, Nkrumah was Osagyefo, the victor. Of course, Nkrumah, who was born around 1909, was much older than me. But I was a very good friend of the Old Man. I first met him in London. That was in the mid-1950s, before Ghana's independence. I was then in London attending a local government course with the support of the Labour Party of Britain. We greeted each other and did not have much discussion then. I don't think Nkrumah had heard much about me at the time.
Later, I got on well with him. I remember one issue very well. This was before Zambia's independence. It was in 1957, when I was attending Ghana's independence celebrations. I used that visit to go around studying how Nkrumah and his friends had mobilised people for independence. Nkrumah had a lot of time for me.
There were also visitors from other parts of Africa. It was a fantastic time. You know that President Kamuzu Banda of Malawi moved from Britain and lived in Ghana. The country's independence inspired him to pack up his bags and go to Malawi to join the independence struggle there. Ghana's independence was a very great occasion, especially for those of us from British-run territories.
got on well with Nkrumah. But I remember one of his officials did not seem to like me much. On one of my visits, that person did an article on me that was not fair. I went to Nkrumah and wondered how people there could write such unfair things about me. Nkrumah said he was sorry that one of his officials had done that to me and asked me to go and discuss it with that person. I did meet that man and the issue was resolved.
In Zambia's struggle for independence, we had accepted and followed Nkrumah's thoughts on African liberation. We understood his statement that Ghana's independence was meaningless without the rest of Africa also becoming independent. We knew, of course, what that would mean.
My government supported the freedom movement in Southern Africa. In turn, we were bombed by the racist and colonial regimes. Many people were killed. Infrastructure was destroyed and we had to rebuild. The effects of the wars of liberation have continued for a long period. Several times I pointed out to my beloved countrymen and women that there was a high price to pay for supporting the liberation of Africa.
I was a great admirer of Nkrumah. One of the most shocking incidents in Africa was the overthrow, in February 1966, of that great man. Nkrumah had been to Beijing and Hanoi on a state visit to the Far East. After the criminals did that ... I don't think we will ever recover from those events. Ghana was greatly shaken. Sadly, other coups in other parts of Africa followed.
But Sekou Toure of Guinea did a great thing. A great patriot, Toure invited Nkrumah to Guinea and made him a co-president of that country. I think this was Toure's big reaction to an African tragedy, the overthrow of Nkrumah. He may have known it was not going to do much but it showed the anger and pain of the event.
It required a lot of courage for Sekou Toure to take that direction. It also took a lot of courage to plan to bring together three countries: Ghana, Guinea, and Mali. They saw it as the beginning of an African union. It was a big vision. I was very saddened when Nkrumah died on 27 April 1972, which was a day before my birthday anniversary. Nkrumah was truly brave.
Source: "The Coup that disrupted Africa's forward march", The New African. Feb 2006
"C'était un homme très simple. Il n'a jamais voulu vivre au-dessus de son peuple"
Mme Hadja Andrée Touré nous rapporte:
"D'abord, je crois que son premier combat, c'était la réhabilitation de l'Afrique. Son rêve était que l'Afrique soit libérée de la domination étrangère. C'est pourquoi quand, en 1958, le choix s'est posé, à travers le référendum ou la France demandait aux pays africains d'adhérer à la communauté Franco-Africaine, alors qu'il avait été désigné pour rencontrer le Général DeGaulle, il posait le problème de la communauté en terme de porte ouverte sur l'indépendance. Ce qui n'a pas été accepté. Pour DeGaulle, c'était plus tôt << Vous venez à la communauté ou vous prenez l'indépendance avec ses conséquences>>. Le président Sékou Touré avait alors dit: << On ne peut pas dire que l'opportunité a été donnée à l'Afrique d'aller à l'indépendance et qu'elle a été rejetée par tous les pays Africains>>. Donc, il a choisi la voie de l'indépendance, qui était certainement très difficile, mais il fallait qu'il le fasse, parce que c'était sa conviction (...). Ce vote qui a été très mal perçu par les puissances coloniales, parce que d'abord c'était une brèche ouverte par laquelle tous les pays Africains se sont engouffrés. Ce qui montre que le peuple souhaitait l'indépendance. Aucun peuple n'aime la domination. Et en ce qui concerne le peuple Guinéen, il percevait la colonisation comme l'esclavage. Le Guinéen pense que quand on meure esclave, dans l'Au-delà, on est encore esclave. Le peuple a donc adhéré aux idées du leader Guinéen. Et tout au long de sa vie, Sékou Touré s'est battu pour la libération de tous les pays Africains."
Le Pr Sidiki Kobélé Keïta renchérit:
" La Guinée doit donc son indépendance particulièrement au P.D.G en tant qu'expression organisée de ses plus profondes aspirations et à Sékou Touré, en tant que leader."
"Le cerveau du complot de 1965, c'est moi" : témoignage de Tounkara Jean Faraguet ancien ministre de Sékou Touré et ancien detenu au Camp Boiro, dans Ivoir Soir, numéro 2651, 31 Décembre, 1997.
L'émancipation des femmes sous Sékou Touré: témoignage du Commandant Binta Diallo.
Documentaire: LA DAME OISEAU: une femme pilote (Guinée)
Binta Diallo, commandant dans l'armée de l'air de Guinée a fait une grande partie de sa formation en ex-URSS avant de devenir pilote personnelle du Président Ahmed Sékou Touré. Actuellement, toujours aux commandes de son hélicoptère, elle se bat pour l'amélioration des droits de la Femme et espère vivement qu'une relève féminine lui emboîtera le pas au sein de l'armée de l'air. Réalisatrice : Adama Denise Diaby Pays : Guinée Année de production :2007 Durée : 26 minutes
lien pour voir le documentaire en ligne: http://www.clubcirtef.org/VISION/pagevideoFB-OISEAU.html