It's rare for the leader of a country to die in office. Since 2008, it's happened 13 times worldwide - but 10 of those leaders have been African. Why is it so much more common in this one continent?
Large crowds carrying candles ran alongside the hearse carrying the body of Meles Zenawi, as it made its way through Addis Ababa, on Tuesday. He had died, aged 57, after a long illness.
Earlier in the month, tens of thousands of Ghanaians attended the funeral of their late President, John Atta Mills, who had died suddenly at the age of 68.
Four months earlier, a national holiday was declared in Malawi to allow as many people as possible to attend the funeral of the late president, Bingu wa Mutharika, who had died of a cardiac arrest, aged 78.
And in January, the president of Guinea Bissau, Malam Bacai Sanha, died in a military hospital in Paris after a long illness. He was 64.
So, four African leaders have died in office this year alone. Disruptive for the countries concerned, tragic for the leaders' families. But spare a thought also for the reporters.
"I seem to be getting an awful lot of calls in the night telling me an African president has died," says Simon Allison, a correspondent for South Africa's Daily Maverick website. "Why do African presidents keep dying?"
The question led him to take a close look at their survival rate.
"Go back just a little bit further and the list of dead sitting African presidents gets alarmingly longer," he says. Indeed, since 2008, 10 African leaders have died in office. It's certainly true that leaders are dying in office in higher numbers in Africa than on any other continent. In the same period, only three other national leaders have died in office - Kim Jong Il of North Korea, Polish President Lech Kaczynski, who died in a plane crash, and David Thomson of Barbados, who had cancer.
The obvious answer is that African leaders are just older than those of other continents, an explanation Simon Allison favours. He believes Africans like their leaders to be older - respect for elders is embedded in the culture of many of the continent's countries. But are they?
"African presidents, before they have been elected, will have led a relatively disadvantaged life, and disadvantageous lifestyle, and that will impact on their life expectancies at subsequent ages," he says. "So once they get into the presidential office, even though they will be living a lifestyle far far far removed from their fellow citizens, which would increase their life expectancy in relation to those fellow citizens, they do have an accumulated disadvantageous lifestyle which they have to pay back on at some time." Although of course, not all African leaders will have had poor childhoods.
Serving leaders' average ages Africa: 61 Asia: 61 Europe: 55 N America: 59 C America: 60 S America: 59 Australasia: 58
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Posted: at 27-08-2012 11:42 AM (11 years ago) | Hero
jessymic at 27-08-2012 05:37 PM (11 years ago) (f)
its bcos most african leaders are soo greedy that they like to eat everything they come across without thinking of its negative effect. Morning: (at home) Tea with assorted eggs,bread rolls, sardine,cornbeef and sausages (office) coffee with,potato chips, cornflacks etc Brunch: Pancake with fried plantain, and fruit salad Lunch: Cream of onions soup with mixed grilled and fish, and semovita. then pineapple Dinner: sweet corn with fried rice and oven roasted chicken. Super: Fisherman soup with boiled parsley potato, gizard with veg. salad. then they relax with Hennessey and other brands os champain. No much exercise at the end of the day. so tell me, after mixing all this ( african and continental dishes) in one stomach in a day, do u think they will survive it. Most of them are lucky anyway
some of them
Posted: at 27-08-2012 05:37 PM (11 years ago) | Upcoming
dlimelite at 27-08-2012 05:43 PM (11 years ago) (f)
Quote from: jessymic on 27-08-2012 05:37 PM
its bcos most african leaders are soo greedy that they like to eat everything they come across without thinking of its negative effect. Morning: (at home) Tea with assorted eggs,bread rolls, sardine,cornbeef and sausages (office) coffee with,potato chips, cornflacks etc Brunch: Pancake with fried plantain, and fruit salad Lunch: Cream of onions soup with mixed grilled and fish, and semovita. then pineapple Dinner: sweet corn with fried rice and oven roasted chicken. Super: Fisherman soup with boiled parsley potato, gizard with veg. salad. then they relax with Hennessey and other brands os champain. No much exercise at the end of the day. so tell me, after mixing all this ( african and continental dishes) in one stomach in a day, do u think they will survive it. Most of them are lucky anyway
some of them
Posted: at 27-08-2012 05:43 PM (11 years ago) | Hero
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