-
West Africa: Why West Africa Has Had So Many Coups and How to Prevent More
The Conversation Africa, 15 February 2022
West Africa's latest successful coup, in Burkina Faso on 24 January 2022, has renewed unease about coups "returning" and democracies "dying" in Africa. The recent attempt in… Read more »
-
Africa: Africa Is Beset With Coups and Conflicts - How the Trend Can Be Reversed
The Conversation Africa, 16 February 2022
On the evening of 15 February 2022, reports emerged that key police and military officials in Djibouti were put under house arrest, reportedly amid fears of a coup d'état. Read more »
-
Africa: African Union Condemns 'Wave' of Military Coups
DW, 6 February 2022
Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali and Sudan have all been suspended from the AU. At a summit in Addis Ababa, AU delegates decried "the wave of unconstitutional changes of government." Read more »
-
Africa: Adopt New Strategies to Stop Coups in West Africa
Ghanaian Times, 4 February 2022
As usual, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) held a meeting yesterday to respond to the military takeover of the presidency in Burkina Faso, a member state. Read more »
-
West Africa: MPs Worry Over Re-Emergence of Coup d'États in W/A
Ghanaian Times, 3 February 2022
Members of Parliament are worried about what they consider as the re-emergence of coup d'etats on the African continent and West Africa in particular. Read more »
-
Ghana: 'Tackle Underlying Causes of Coup d' Etats'
Ghanaian Times, 26 January 2022
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and governments in the region have been implored to proactively tackle the underlying causes of military takeovers in the… Read more »
-
Africa: Coups in Africa and Way Forward in 2022
Leadership, 10 January 2022
The year 2021 was remarkable and unique following the many events in Africa, which could have major impacts in 2022. Power grabs, unconstitutional military takeovers, coup… Read more »
-
Africa: African Coups Are Making a Comeback
This is Africa, 18 October 2021
The AU should do more to pre-empt coups by sanctioning bad governance and attempts by presidents to extend their terms. Read more »
Why West Africa Has Had So Many Coups and How to Prevent More
West Africa's latest coup in Burkina Faso on January 24, 2022 has renewed unease about coups "returning" and democracies "dying" in Africa. The recent attempt in Guinea-Bissau, too, recalled the first decades after independence, when coups were rampant.
The latest coup in Burkina Faso is the fourth in Africa's Sahel region in less than 18 months. The other three were carried out in August 2020 in Mali, in April 2021 in Chad, and Mali's "coup within a coup" in May 2021.
The re-emergence of coup d'etats on the African continent and West Africa, in particular, is mainly due to fundamental factors such as youth unemployment, corruption, and lack of transparency amongst leadership as well as the relative weakness of the Economic Community of West African States and the African Union to deal with security issues.
Across Africa, several sitting presidents have tampered with constitutional terms to stay longer in power, in just over a decade, writes Hakeem Onapajo and Muhammad Dan Suleiman for The Conversation.
InFocus
-
The African Union has "unequivocally" condemned a wave of military coups and attempted putsches across the continent. An unprecedented number of member states have been suspended ... Read more »
-
Burkina Faso's military says it has arrested a group of soldiers for what local media reported was a plot to overthrow the state. At a press conference, Minister of Defence, ... Read more »
-
Guinea-Bissau's government launched a major investigation into a foiled coup attempt to overthrow President Umaro Sissoco Embalo. Reports say a Read more »
A caricature of Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, known as IBK, being thrown off a chair by a soldier (file photo).
