Moreover, dictators will do anything and everything to stay in power. They don not have qualms proclaiming phony promises or declaring empty hopes as long as it help them stay in power. As the mass demonstrations in their countries against them intensify and the international condemnations augment, they divert attention or resort to intimidation. They start mass arrest, use torture and ran mock. John Cloud, senior staff writer for Times magazine wrote in his recent article, The psychology of Dictatorship: Why Gaddafi Clings to Power, “Dictators may fight to the end because they don’t understand that any end is possible.” Dictators are oblivious of reality checking and believe that they can rule forever.
Professor Al Mariam, in his article on Huffington Post, Copycat Dictators and Cartoon Democracies in Africa, stated one of the characteristics of dictators: incredible sense of entitlement to rule forever. Dictators have delusional thoughts. They plan to pass their political batons to their children, like Mubarak of Egypt and Gadaffi of Libya, and rule for generations to come.
Dictators do not transfer power peacefully to the opposition parties albeit they are defeated in election or cordoned by mass demonstration. They do not learn from previous history or from contemporary instances: Gaddafi of Libya, Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen, and Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia, to name a few among plethora of historical examples.
In a futile attempt to save his dictatorial rule, Gaddafi embarked sham negotiation to end his crisis with political solution. Around two months ago, he welcomed African Union delegation represented by five countries and headed by president Zuma of South Africa. It failed miserably. Why? Gaddafi was not sincere in his negotiation. He didn’t want to share or transfer his power via negotiation and resolve his political crisis. His ploy of negotiation was to bide time, reinforce his vigor and overcome the opposition movement.
In the 2005 election of Ethiopia, the residents of Addis Ababa unanimously elected the opposition leaders under the auspices of international observation. However, before the national election ballots were counted and verified throughout the rest of the country, Meles Zenawi announced victory for his party, declared himself commander in chief and prohibited peaceful demonstrations. He then enticed the opposition leaders into disingenuous negotiation. When the opposition leaders met with him hoping for genuine negotiation and peaceful resolution of the situation, he put them in prison and let them languish.
President Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen has stalled the negotiation by the Arab countries for peaceful political transfer of power and has intensified the violence on his own people. By refusing to sign the deal for his peaceful departure, President Saleh is tightening the noose around his neck. The Yemenis are resolute with their peaceful struggle and are about to kick the pedestal from the feet of Mr. Saleh. According to the BBC New report on June 3, 2011, “President Ali Abdullah Saleh has been injured in an attack on a mosque in his compound in the Yemeni capital Sanaa and is in hospital, officials say, as fighting continues between the government and armed tribes.”
Unless the opposition leaders and foreign intermediaries comprehend the psychological make up of the dictators and the intricacies of their intent in their engagement for negotiations, they cannot achieve the desired outcome by simply participating in their political ploy of hypocritical discussion.
As the internal struggle of the people is formidable and reached its climax, and as the international pressure (political, economic or military) is overwhelming, the dictators’ support will disintegrate and shift its alliances to the people. It’s only at that juncture, point of no return by the people, that dictators will be forced to negotiate and share their powers, as witnessed in Zimbabwe (March 2008 between Mugabe and Tsvangirai) and in Kenya (December 2007 between Kibaki and Odinga.) If the balances of power in the struggle tilted significantly to the opposition, dictators have no political marble to negotiate with but to abdicate their power and exit as observed by Ben Ali of Tunisia, Mubarak of Egypt, and colonel Mengistu of Ethiopia. When dictators are delusional about the their impending defeat and continue fighting instead of negotiating for power sharing or peaceful exit, they have to be apprehended and literally dragged out of their palaces, like Gbagbo of Ivory Coast.
