Africa’s Coup Epidemic: One Too Many

With the way and manner in which the military junta continued to seize power in Africa, one may be tempted to think power is going out of style, and this can be ascribed solely to bad leadership and decades of decay in the system. The new turn of military and civilian (election rigging) coups will further impoverish the land and make it less distinguished while also tarnishing whats left of our besmirched reputation among other nations, just as self-harm and power-grabbing continue to afflict West Africa and indeed the entire continent of Africa. These visionless and selfish leaders' only qualifications are nepotism, anarchy, and entitlement spirit. This only reiterates our backwardness and self-destructive mentality that have characterized the black continent since the colonial era.

A number of African countries have had military takeovers in the past three years, including Mali, Sudan, Niger, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, and Guinea. Like the forbidden apple, it is seen how difficult it is to reverse a coup once it has occurred, as Niger's junta is still in power despite the threat from the spineless ECOWAS Commission . One would have expected the threats and sanctions from the West African countries to serve as deterrents, as seen in other bodies like the European Union . The effrontery and impudence by the junta and the bluff from these uniform men only underscore the level of rot in Africa's political system.

History of Coup in Africa

The number of coups in Africa had been steadily decreasing during the previous 20 years, until the current wave of coup d'etat occurred. There was an annual average of less than one successful coup in the decade before 2020, but now Africa is already reversing its recent trend toward greater democracy in light of the recent spate of power grabs on the continent. History doesn’t lie; it made us realize that 492 coups have taken place or been attempted worldwide since 1950, with the greatest number of 220 occurring in Africa and 109 of them successful. Among the 54 African countries, 45 of them have seen coup attempts since 1950, with success in 37 countries. Sudan has had the most coups (both attempted and successful) among African countries since 1950, with a total of 18. With nine coups, including two in 2022, Burkina Faso has the highest number of successful coups, even though the country has had fewer overall coup attempts over the same period. Since gaining independence in 1960, there have been eight coup attempts in Nigeria, with six of them successful.

Interestingly, coups have become increasingly limited to the poorest countries in the world, and the recent wave of coups fits into this conclusion. In 2022, Sudan's GDP was $52 billion, compared to less than $22 billion for Gabon, Niger, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Chad, and Mali. In contrast, the United States had the world's largest gross domestic product in 2022, with a value of $25 trillion. In 2022, fifteen of the top twenty nations on The Fund for Peace Fragile States Index were located in Africa. Twelve of them have a history of successful coups, and they include Zimbabwe, the Central African Republic, Chad, Sudan, and Somalia. Richer, more institutionalized African nations like South Africa and Botswana, on the other hand, have never had a successful coup.

Cause of Coup in Africa

Some of the causes of coups in Africa include, but are not limited to, corruption, nepotism, bad governance, greed, selfishness, mismanagement of diversity, mismanagement of opportunity, marginalization, abuse of human rights, refusal to accept electoral defeat, manipulation of the constitution, and unconstitutional review of the constitution to serve narrow interests. Apart from this, a lack of appropriate sanctions and deterrents also contributes to the new trend. For instance, Russia and China, both veto-holding members of the council, in late 2021 blocked fresh United Nations sanctions on Mali’s coup leaders after they announced delays in elections that would return the West African country to civilian rule.

?A look at the Horizon

I strongly doubt if this mad quest for power will stop, especially with the involvement of political powers like China, Russia, France, e.t.c., who have continued to provide a rope for African nations to hang themselves, but I will like to share the same view with U.S. researchers Jonathan Powell: “I am certain the coming years will see coups in higher numbers than what we have become accustomed to. The underlying causes of coups are present and worsening. Until these domestic dynamics improve or regional or global actors can provide a solution, there is no reason to think coups should go away.”