Over the past year and a half, eight national leaders who were in power have died or died all over the world — this is a record figure for almost two decades, a study by RBC showed
Funeral of the murdered Haitian President Jovenel Moise in Cap-Haitien, Haiti
From the beginning of 2020 to the middle of July of this year, eight heads of state or government who were in power died or died-a record number for at least the last two decades, RBC calculated. This is more than in 2018–2019 (five leaders died or were killed) or in 2016 & ndash;2017 (four people). All the deaths or deaths of leaders in 2020 & ndash;2021 occurred in Third world countries. In 2003–2004, seven leaders of heads of state or government died.
The latest case is the murder of President Haitijovenel Moiz. He was shot dead on the night of July 7 in his own residence, his wife was seriously injured, but survived, receiving medical care in the United States. The country’s interim prime minister, Claude Joseph, said that the attackers spoke English and Spanish. The Minister for Voting and Inter-Party Relations of the country, Mathias Pierre, said that the gang that organized the murder of Moiz included 26 people. Four of them were shot dead.
In April, the President of Chad, Idris Deby, was killed from wounds received in a battle with the rebels. He has been at the head of state since 1990. The Government and Parliament of Chad have been dissolved, and a military-created council will rule the country for the next 18 months.
Two more African leaders-President of Tanzania John Pombe Joseph Magufuli and President of Burundi Pierre Nkurunziza-died of diseases. The media reported that both leaders were infected with the COVID-19 coronavirus. Magufuli, who died in March of this year, refused to introduce lockdown in Tanzania and spoke out against wearing medical masks. He also asked the people of Tanzania to pray for the victory over the coronavirus. In April 2020, Tanzania stopped publishing official statistics of cases, and Magufuli claimed that his country was free of infection, and invited tourists to the republic.
Nkurunziza died on June 8, 2020 from cardiac arrest. At the same time, local media wrote that the head of state had a coronavirus. Nkurunziza was at the head of Burundi for a total of 15 years.
Prime Minister of Bahrain Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa (in November 2020) and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Eswatini Mandvulo Ambrose Dlamini (in December 2020) also died of diseases. In addition, two Prime Ministers of Ivory Coast have died at once in the last two years. On July 8, 2020, Amadou Ghosn Coulibaly died— he became ill after a meeting of the Council of Ministers. And on March 10 of that year, Amed Bakayoko died of cancer.
In 2021 alone, at least four assassinations and one attempted assassination were organized against political figures. On July 20, an attempt was made on the interim President of Mali, Colonel Assimi Goita, who had led the country since the military coup. He was attacked in a mosque in the capital of the state of Bamako-two armed men, one of whom had a knife, tried to attack Goita during the service. With reference to one of the servants of the mosque, AFP clarifies that the attacker tried to stab the president in the back, but he was not injured, and another person was injured.
On June 26, a helicopter carrying Colombian President Ivan Duque was shelled by unknown persons while flying over the eastern part of the South American republic. As a result of the shelling, the presidential helicopter received six bullet hits, but no one was injured during the incident. Colombian police have detained six suspects in the organization of the assassination attempt on the president. According to the investigation, the detainees are participants or commit crimes in favor of the FARC group (“Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia”).
In May, an attempt was made on the former President of the Maldives, the speaker of the People’s Majlis (Parliament), Mohamed Nasheed. As a result of the explosion, he received numerous serious injuries and was in critical condition, then underwent several operations in a hospital in Male and is now undergoing further treatment in Germany. According to the superintendent of police of the Maldivian capital Male Mohamed Bashir, the suspect in the organization of the assassination attempt was detained as a result of an anti-terrorist operation conducted in 25 settlements of the country. Earlier, the police arrested four people in this case, their names were not disclosed.
On May 29, the car of the Minister of Transport of Uganda, a former high-ranking officer of the country’s army, Katumba Wamala, was fired at. The politician’s daughter, who was in the car, and his driver were killed. Vamala himself survived, although he was injured. Five people are accused of organizing the attempt.
On July 22, it was reported about the prevention of an attempt on the President of Madagascar, Andri Radzuelina, two people were arrested as part of the investigation. According to the RFI radio station, these are Franco-Malagasy Paul Rafanoharana and Frenchman Philippe Francois, who planned the murder of “major political figures”, including the president. Reuters with a linkthe Deputy Prosecutor General of Madagascar said that several people, including both citizens of Madagascar and foreigners, were detained on suspicion of organizing an attempt on the president. The police seized the weapon with which the attempt was planned to be carried out.
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