Fear of Coup d’etat, Biya, Kagame Make Major Changes in Military

Michael Olugbode in Abuja with agency report

The fear of military coup d’etat spreading to their countries may have informed the decision of nonagenarian Cameroon’s President Paul Biya and sexagenarian Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame to make telling changes in their military.

Biya has been in power since 1982 (41 years ago) and Kagame since 2000 (23 years ago).

Both have no known plans to relinquish power with Kagame having the backing of a constitution change in 2015 which allowed him to remain president until 2034, and his Cameroonian counterpart is seen to be non-committal about relinquishing power even in 2025, which would be the end of his current seventh term of office.

Following the coup in Gabon on Wednesday, August 30, Cameroon President Biya made major changes to the country’s ministry of defence.

Among the posts reshuffled were the delegate to the presidency in charge of defence, air force staff, navy and the police. He announced the changes on social media platform.

Biya, 90, came to power in a coup d’etat in 1982 and even after transforming into democratic president along the way has remained in power.

Also, shortly after the Gabon coup, Rwanda’s defence force (RDF) announced on X, the social platform formerly known as Twitter, that President Kagame approved the retirement of 83 senior officers.

According to the RDF, Kagame also approved the promotion and appointment of some officers to replace the previous office holders.

Meetings between Rwanda’s chief of defence staff, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) ambassador to Rwanda, and the defence attaché of Cameroon were also held to discuss ways “to enhance defence cooperation between their respective countries”.

The decisions of Kagame and Biya to reshuffle their militaries came a few hours after soldiers seized power in Gabon, punctuating the 53-year hold on the country by President Ali Bongo’s family.

Rwandan president, Kagame, who doubles as the Commander-in-Chief of RDF, according to reports, has approved the retirement of 95 military generals and senior officers, as well as 930 junior soldiers.

Top on the list of retirees is General James Kabarebe, the country’s former Minister of Defence and Chief of Defence Staff.

Those affected were disclosed in a statement published on the Rwanda Defence Force’s official website on Wednesday.

Until his retirement, Kabarebe served as the special advisor to the president on security.

Local media reports that some of those retired had attained the retirement age of 65 while others were indicted of misconduct.

“The president has also approved the retirement of 83 senior officers, 06 junior officers and 86 senior NCOS, 678 end of contract and 160 medical discharges,” the statement partly read.

Prior to their retirement, President Kagame promoted a number of lieutenant colonels to the rank of colonels and brigade commanders.

Although the statement did not categorically state the reasons behind the retirement of the military officers, the president had in previous weeks addressed opinion leaders on the need to keep the country united.

His words: “Our history has been an example of how destructive division can be. We have also seen that it is our unity that has led to our country’s transformation. We have people who lost their family members, others who have family members who are perpetrators, everyone has suffered the consequences of division.”