The alleged corruption, insecurities, nepotism among others in civilian rule across African countries have been said to have resulted in a military coup in Seven African countries.
Gabon registered central Africa as two North and four West African Presidents have been ousted between 2020 to 2023.
However, idanNews gathered that the Gabon coup If successful would make it the seventh coup in West, North and Central Africa since it started in Mali in August 2020.
Below are the African countries under the Coup d’état
MALI
Mali is a West African country.
In August 2020, a group of Malian colonels led by Assimi Goita ousted President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita. The coup followed anti-government protests over deteriorating security, contested legislative elections and allegations of corruption.
Under pressure from Mali’s West African neighbours, the junta agreed to cede power to a civilian-led interim government tasked with overseeing an 18-month transition to democratic elections to be held in February 2022.
However, the coup leaders clashed with the interim president, retired Colonel Bah Ndaw, and engineered a second coup in May 2021. Goita, who had served as interim vice president, was elevated to the presidency.
ECOWAS lifted some of the sanctions on Mali after the military rulers proposed a two-year transition to democracy and published a new electoral law. The country is scheduled to hold a presidential election in February 2024 to return to constitutional rule.
CHAD
Chad is a Northern African country. In April 2021, Chad’s army took power after President Idriss Deby was killed on the battlefield while visiting troops fighting rebels in the north.
Under Chadian law, the speaker of parliament should have become president. But a military council stepped in and dissolved parliament in the name of ensuring stability.
Deby’s son, General Mahamat Idriss Deby, was named interim president and tasked with overseeing an 18-month transition to elections.
The unconstitutional transfer of power led to riots in the capital N’Djamena that were put down by the military.
GUINEA
Guinea is another West African Country, In September 2021, special forces commander Colonel Mamady Doumbouya ousted President Alpha Conde.
A year earlier, Conde had changed the constitution to circumvent limits that would have prevented him from standing for a third term, triggering widespread rioting.
Doumbouya became interim president and promised a transition to democratic elections within three years.
ECOWAS rejected the timeline and imposed sanctions on junta members and their relatives, including freezing their bank accounts.
The military regime later proposed to start the 24-month transition in January 2023, but opposition parties say it has done little to put in place institutions and a roadmap to return to constitutional rule.
Sudan
Sundan is a Northern African nation. In October 2021, the Sudanese military, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, took control of the Government of Sudan in a military coup.
Civilian Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok refused to declare support for the coup and on 25 October he called for popular resistance and as a result confined to house arrest on 26 October 2021.
However, in 2023 an armed conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), rival factions of the military government of Sudan, began on 15 April 2023, with the fighting concentrated around the capital city of Khartoum and the Darfur region. Later, a faction of the militant Sudan People’s Liberation Movement–North (SPLM-N) led by Abdelaziz al-Hilu, also fought the SAF in regions bordering South Sudan and Ethiopia.
BURKINA FASO
Burkina Faso is the third West African country to be hit by a military coup. In January 2022, Burkina Faso’s army ousted President Roch Kabore, blaming him for failing to contain violence by Islamist militants.
Coup leader Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Damiba pledged to restore security, but attacks worsened, eroding morale in the armed forces that led to a second coup in September 2022 when current junta leader Captain Ibrahim Traore seized power.
NIGER
Niger, a West African country with the most recent coup in Africa before the Gabon military announced it had taken over in the early hours of Wednesday 30th, August 2023.
In July 2023, members of Niger’s presidential guard detained President Mohamed Bazoum inside his palace and appeared on national television saying they were seizing power to end the “deteriorating security situation and bad governance.”
Days later the junta declared the head of the presidential guard, Abdourahamane Tiani, the new head of state, raising concerns about the security of a region where Niger has been a key ally of Western powers seeking to contain insurgencies by groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State.
The main West African bloc ECOWAS has been trying to negotiate with the coup leaders but said it was ready to send troops into Niger to restore constitutional order if diplomatic efforts failed.
Niger has authorised Mali and Burkina Faso’s armed forces to intervene on its territory in case of an attack.
Gabon
A group of senior military officers in Gabon announced on national television on Wednesday they had taken power and election results were annulled, just minutes after President Ali Bongo was declared to have won a third term.
If successful the coup would represent the seventh since 2020 in West, North and Central Africa, a region that in the last decade had made strides to shed its reputation as a “coup belt”, only for persistent insecurity and corruption to open the door to military leaders.
