SOME GOVERNMENTS THAT ROSE TO POWER VIA ARMED UPRISING

Robert Mugabe: Long- serving former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe rose to prominence in the guerrilla struggle against white minority rule in the 1970s, and outmaneuvered his political rivals to become prime minister in 1980 after Zimbabwe gained independence from Britain. Mugabe jumped into politics in the early 1960s, to demand equal rights. He helped form a party called the Zimbabwe African National Union, better known as ZANU. He was thrown into jail in 1964, where he languished for 10 years. Upon his release, he fled to Mozambique, to join the guerrilla wing of ZANU, and soon clawed his way up to become its sole commander. ZANU was not fighting the revolutionary struggle - the ‘ Chimurenga’ - alone. A rival group called ZAPU was led by Joshua Nkomo, a politician from the Ndebele minority. - ( The World)

Ugandan President Museveni: Yoweri Museveni held posts in transitional governments and in 1980 ran for president of Uganda. When the elections, widely believed to have been rigged, were won by Milton Obote, Museveni and former president Yusufu Lule formed the National Resistance Movement ( NRM); Museveni led the NRM’s armed group, the National Resistance Army, which waged a guerrilla war against Obote’s regime. The resistance eventually prevailed, and on January 26, 1986, Museveni declared himself president of Uganda. He was elected to the post on May 9, 1996, and his backers won control of the National Assembly in legislative elections held the following month. - ( Britanica)

African National Congress: The African National Congress ANC formed a military wing known as Umkhonto weSizwe ( MK) which ensured that thousands of young men and women spent significant portions of their lives in the difficult conditions of the training and transit camps. Taught to think and act like soldiers, they were often condemned to long periods of waiting for an opportunity to go into action against apartheid. For those chosen for infiltration back into the country the attrition rate was very high, the strategic effectiveness of their operations - with few exceptions, such as the 1980 rocket attack on Sasol - limited.