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Guinea-Bissau has become the latest victim of the coup virus that is currently ravaging the West African region. In an attempt to overthrow the government of President Umaro Sissoco Embalo, some adventurous soldiers launched an attack near a government compound where the president was having a cabinet meeting on February 1, 2022. At least, six people including two members of the presidential guard and four of the assailants were killed. Luckily, loyal soldiers quelled the insurrection after about five hours of gunfire.
Since independence from Portugal in 1974, Guinea-Bissau has suffered at least 10 coups or attempted coups. The country of about two million people has been suffering from instability caused largely by corruption, unemployment, low education and drug trafficking.
Reasons behind the latest coup attempt are hazy. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) President, Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, believes it was the army that staged the coup attempt. But President Embalo exonerated the army from the attack and linked it to government’s fight against drug trafficking. He said it wasn’t just a coup but an attempt to kill him, the prime minister and all the cabinet. Guinea-Bissau is a major transit point for Latin American cocaine meant for Europe.
From August 2020 to date, West Africa has recorded six coups or attempted coups. We had two in Mali (August 2020 and May 2021), one in Guinea (September 2021) and one in Burkina Faso (January 2022). The attempts in Niger Republic (March 2021) and Guinea-Bissau (February 2022) failed.
Oftentimes, bad governance is the major causative factor. Social inequality and poverty are also contributory factors. Some African leaders fail to provide democracy dividends and security to their people. The recent coup in Mali and Burkina Faso happened because the leadership of the country failed to contain the incursion of terrorists linked to al-Qaeda and Islamic State group into their territories. In Guinea-Bissau, the military has been nursing some grievances against the government. While the president was on a working visit to Brazil last year, the country’s chief of armed forces said the military had been plotting a coup.
Among the other continents, Africa remains the only one where violent removal of governments happens frequently. It shows how backward the continent is. It also shows that democracy has not taken a firm root on the continent. If there is any factor that scares away investors, it is instability. When a democratically elected government is violently removed the way we are currently witnessing in Africa, especially West Africa, it gives the wrong signal to investors. It makes the continent look insecure in the eyes of the world.
The earlier the African Union (AU) and the ECOWAS stamp their feet against this virus, the better for the continent. So far, the actions these two bodies take are feeble and cannot put a stop to coups in Africa. Most times, they merely condemn coups and impose weak sanctions or suspend the affected country or countries from the regional and continental bodies. After the recent failed coup in Guinea-Bissau, the AU simply called on the military to return to their barracks without delay. The United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, also condemned what he called “terrible multiplication of coups” in West Africa. These condemnations are no longer enough.
More stringent measures should be taken against any country which attempts or succeeds in staging coups on the continent. Everything must be done to dissuade adventurist soldiers from taking over power. To start with, all the dissident soldiers who attempted to overthrow the government in Guinea-Bissau must be made to face the full wrath of the law.
Since coups are more prevalent in West Africa, ECOWAS should stop paying lip service to the problem. There is the danger of it spreading further to other countries if care is not taken. If possible, let there be a standing army that could intervene and stop any insurrection in any country in the region.
We condemn in strong terms the coup attempt in Guinea-Bissau and the other recent coups in Africa and ask African countries to resist the virus from spreading further. We commend the loyal soldiers in Guinea-Bissau who thwarted the coup attempt in that country. Coups are never alternatives to elections. Any soldier who is interested in politics should resign and join any political party of his choice to contest for elections. All the countries where coups have taken place should make arrangements to return their countries to democratic rule. Above all, democratic governments must endeavour to provide good governance to avoid unnecessary military incursions in politics.
