Nigeria and Niger have fought Islamist insurgents together in the Lake Chad region, home to groups affiliated with the militant group Boko Haram. Read about our approach to external linking. 2021, the year military coups returned to the stage in Africa This year, there were four successful military takeovers across the continent in Chad, Mali, Guinea and Sudan up from one in 2020. WebHere are five things to know about Malis coup and its broader challenges. On the other hand, they have destabilised several political regimes through coup dtats. Why All the Coups? Supporters of the junta in Niger take part in a demonstration in front of a French army base in Niamey. The 82 coups Africa experienced between 1960 and 2000 were devastating for the continentcontributing to the instability, corruption, human rights abuses, impunity, and poverty that characterized many African countries during that era. [15] Nkrumah, Kwame (1965) Neo-colonialism: The Last Stage of Imperialism,London: PANAF, p. ix. Abstract. While the tenure of military regimes that assume political power through coups may be short-lived and not under constitutional rule, they take full control of States during their time in office, just as democratically elected governments do. Eric Schmitt contributed reporting from Washington, and Pius Adeleye from Ilorin, Nigeria. An unprecedented number of member states have been suspended from the bloc as a result of the military power grabs. 24. Coup leaders have shunned both the threats and calls for mediation from Nigeria and ECOWAS. Senators, religious leaders and civil society organizations in northern Nigeria oppose a war with a neighbor that they say would further destabilize both countries, whose militaries were already spread thin fighting off Islamist militants. Coups, moreover, are contagious. With the border between the countries closed until further notice, thousands of trucks have been stuck. INTRO: The January 15, 1966 military coup in Nigeria happened because of corruption by the officials, Western Nigeria crisis, intention to install Awolowo as the Head of State, the domino effect from coups outside Nigeria, and personal ambition of the coup plotters for joining the army. Unfortunately, after more than three decades of the third wave of democratization that began in the 1990s, military coups remain a firm figure on the Data gathered through documentary analysis is relied upon to develop a conceptual framework of coups, countercoups and democratization on the African continent. In many cases, though not all, new military leaders end up delaying the return to civilian rule. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu The poor performance of authoritarian forms of government on African soil, and the universal desire to have a say in decisions that affect our own lives, helps to explain why support for democracy remains high. (3) One way that domestic and international trends can interact at the regional level is through the spillover of coups. The purpose of this article is to contribute to the theoretical understanding of African military coups d'etat. Military coups were common in Africa for many years after independence, but they have become increasingly rare in the past two decades, he claimed. WebDemocratization and Military Coups in Africa: Post-1990 Political Conflicts studies the seemingly endless cycle of coups that have occurred in Africa since the Free Officers Coup of 1952 in Egypt. Despite West Africa's security and political volatility, Burkina Faso enjoyed fragile stability until a popular uprising in 2014 that ousted former long-serving President Blaise Compaor. WebAugust 16, 2023 at 9:00 PM PDT. In the latest development, the coup leader, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, arrested Having discussed military coups in Africa through the lens of neocolonialism, the next section analyses the link between coups and politics in neocolonial Africa. cit. saying they would muster a standby force, accused ex-colonial power France, a close Bazoum ally, of being behind the hardline Ecowas stance. It is unacceptable to him and his fellow heads of state that at this modern age of continental history, were still talking about forceful change of power at the barrel of a gun, Ajuri Ngelale, Mr. Tinubus spokesman, said in an interview. An earlier version of this article misspelled the given name of a senior fellow for Africa studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. Mandatory cookies are used on our website www.aa.com.tr in order to provide you with a better service. Neocolonialism helps to explain how modern African States have remained economically and militarily too weak to avert local and foreign threats since independence. 1 Oct 2022. Nigeria, like Niger, has experienced five coups since independence in 1960. Africas coup belt spans the continent: a line of six countries crossing 3,500 miles, from coast to coast, that has become the longest corridor of military rule on Earth. In fulfilling this fundamental role, military institutions have also posed security risks to their own governments, given that the ability to use coercive force, though necessary to defend the nation against threats, creates the danger that the military will turn its weapons on the very regime that empowered its existence. In general, the lack of accountability that occurs under dictators and military juntas leads to greater corruption and less effective economic policy. WebWhy West Africa has had so many coups and how to prevent more. Senegal, Benin and Ivory Coast said they would send troops for any military intervention against Nigers coup leaders. In the past few years, there has been a rise in the spate of successful or attempted coups across the continent. But Burkina Faso and Mali, both currently suspended by the bloc of West African countries because they were taken over by military juntas, announced they would defend the mutineers. They announced they seized power in a coup because of The current understanding of a political organisation in Africa has largely been restricted to bureaucratic institutions in which political leadership emerges from elections. Yet by invoking democracy to legitimate military takeover, coup plotters create a rod for their own backs. WebAnswer (1 of 3): Im not very experienced with this matter but I will try to answer as well as I can. B. The paper concludes that military interventions via coups were not entirely wasted years, but created some new management elites who contributed a lot to the economic, social and political developments of the country. To address these and other limitations in the literature, the article advances a twofold argument. Reporting from Dakar, Senegal, and Maiduguri, Nigeria. We will not allow coup after coup, he said, drawing a round of applause. Ibrahim Traore (center) at a press conference in Ouagadougou on October 2, 2022. [17], Despite the idea of neocolonialism helping to understand several political and socioeconomic issues, including coups in modern Africa, several attempts have been made to discredit the term since its inception. 6:04. As Douglass North, John Wallis and Barry Weingast have argued, Societies experiencing a civil war, by definition, do not have consolidated control of the military. [28] Indeed, political leaders such as Mamadou Tandja of Niger, Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal, and Alpha Cond of Guinea were all forced out of their presidential office by the military, after altering their countries constitutions to serve more than two terms in office. They might equally (as First, , The Barrel of a Gun, pp. In others, it is because they have political projects they wish to complete that take longer than expected. With 220 million people, Nigerias population is larger than the 14 other ECOWAS countries combined. WebThough rumors of a coup had circulated in Niger for some time, U.S. officials were blindsided when it happened because the U.S. has not prioritized Africa for years and does not have This cookie is used to distinguish between humans and bots. WebMilitary Coups and Military Rgimes in Africa - Volume 11 Issue 1. R. (2009) Violence and Social Orders,New York: Cambridge University Press, p. 153. Kakuba believes that foreign interference cannot be ruled out in some of these coups. WebA military coup is the violent or non-violent overthrow of an existing political regime by the military. Military Coups in Africa: A Continuation of Politics by Other Means? Coups, therefore, are a continuation of politics by other means, even though they are generally not desirable in most States. Human Rights Watch said it had spoken to Bazoum earlier this week. [22] Foucault, Michel (1996) What Our Present Is, in Lotringer, Sylvre (ed. Indeed, it is telling that while many people supported the coups that removed Mr Cond and Mr Keta, the most recent surveys conducted by Afrobarometer found that 76% of Guineans and 70% of Malians reject military rule. 2. If a fight erupts, who will be at the receiving end? [13] Also, political and socioeconomic factors, such as corruption and poor governance in Africa, are sometimes discussed as though they do not exist in other parts of the world. [16] Furthermore, the former colonisers are alleged to be linked to several political assassinations in Africa. In Burkina Faso, an attack last The coups were widespread in the early postcolonial decades, and the coup plotters justified their reasons for the coup dtat on corruption, mismanagement, and poverty. Research Fellow at the Legon Centre for International Affairs and Diplomacy at the University of Ghana, Receive latest updates, news and analysis from ACCORD. Africas democratic advancement is being derailed by these coups. The EU and African Union (AU) joined others in sounding the alarm for Bazoum on Friday. ; McBride, Michael (2004) Crises, Coups, and Entry-deterring Reforms in Sub-Saharan Africa, Paper presented at the Public Choice Society Seminar, University of California, June; Johnson, Thomas H.; Slater, Robert O.; and McGowan, Pat (1984) Explaining African Military Coups dtat, 1960-1982, American Political Science Review, 78(3), 622640. Ten days after soldiers took the president of Niger hostage and declared themselves the West African countrys new government, the In Niger, residents say food prices have soared since the military takeover, although it remains unclear whether they are primarily caused by the border closures. The crisis in Niger presents an immediate test for Mr. Tinubu, the recently elected president of Africas largest economy, who has vowed to reposition Nigeria as a geopolitical leader in the region. WebOn 18 August 2020, elements of the Malian Armed Forces began a mutiny, and subsequently undertook a coup d'tat.Soldiers on pick-up trucks stormed the Soundiata military base in the town of Kati, where gunfire was exchanged before weapons were distributed from the armory and senior officers arrested. The clamour for coups among citizens is rising Wikimedia CommonsOn the night of 13 January 1963, Togos President Sylvanus Olympio was shot dead by rebels in the first military coup staged in Africa. The academic said West African countries have fragile democracies when compared to other regions on the continent. Military coups were a feature of the African continent in the 1960s, posing a major threat to the democratisation process. Yet having promised to pave the way for more stable and inclusive government, this inevitably disappoints pro-democratic citizens to the point where the coup leaders themselves face the risk of being overthrown. [9] Seigler, Sean M. (2021) Are Military Coups Back in Style in Africa? RAND, 1 December, Available at: [Accessed January 2022]. Many brandished Russian and Niger flags and shouted their support for the countrys new strongman, General Abdourahamane Tiani. The reason was the prevalence of corrupt and unjust rule in Nigeria. The idea of neocolonialism emerged when the first generation of political leaders in modern African States, including Ghanas Kwame Nkrumah and Nigerias Nnamdi Azikiwe, were confronted with post-independence contradictions. Ghana and Nigeria serve as useful African examples. The article highlighted how military coups in Africa are best understood through the lens of neocolonialism. High-intensity armed conflicts occurred in 12 states: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Central African Republic (CAR), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan. The 2000s They have also closed the countrys airspace, rerouting and delaying many flights from Europe and North African countries. African armies are perceived as underfunded, underequipped, and ineffective. Africa has been hit by a spate of coups that threaten to take it back to the 1980s and the era of military rule. ; Nkrumah, Kwame (1965) op. The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, had also expressed his grave concern at the continued unlawful detention under deteriorating conditions of President Bazoum and his family, in a phone call with former president Mahamadou Issoufou, a fellow western ally whom Bazoum served, the state department said. Related Topics It remains unclear whether all branches of the Nigerien military back them, or whether the support extends beyond the capital. Data indicates that over 40 coups and attempted coups have occurred in Africa since 2010 and 20 of those coups occurred in the region of West Africa. This is an opportunity for Burkina Faso to retain its integrity. 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WebThe uranium-rich, landlocked West Africa country is located in a region beset by military coups, poverty and Islamist extremism.Last months coup was the countrys fifth since it
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