extremely racist. They feared losing their positions to “less adequate” black soldiers and officers who would replace them in order to create a more racially proportionate army. The SADF saw the integration of soldiers that were not trained by the SADF as a “threat to the integrity of the armed forces” (Griffiths 402). They claimed that the black soldiers who were coming from the African National Congress’s military wing (Umkhonto we Sizwe or MK) were not properly trained to be incorporated at the command level (Griffiths 402). South Africa’s military faced many problems in its endeavor to change civil-military policy so that it supported democracy, but Nigeria and Uganda faced even greater obstacles. In contrast to the SADF, the Nigerian military actively hindered Nigeria’s attempt at democratizing. After the incumbent government planned for months and then actually held fully democratic elections, which went rather smoothly and without incident, the Nigerian military stepped in and “ambushed” the elections. The incumbent, Ibrahim Babangida had lost to Chief Moshood Abiola and quickly declared the elections invalid, claiming that there was “widespread corruption and fraud” (Bratton 86). Babangida created a temporary government that was headed by a civilian and then shortly after was ousted by General Sani Abacha. The military had installed itself at every level of the Nigerian government and completely took over the attempt at a democratic transition.The Nigerian army did not have any formal checks within the government and as a result became in affect its own political entity. The SADF had abstained from attempting to overthrow the South African government because of its knowledge of the probable outcome. The Nigerian army had likewise made its attempt to overthrow the government because of its knowledge of the fact that there would be nothing to stand in its way. Gree...
