The coup in Burkina Faso

The culture of military coups gradually creeping back to Africa is a clear danger to the continent. In the latest one, which occurred in Burkina Faso on January 24, 2022, the nation’s soldiers detained the democratically elected president of the country, Roch Marc Kabore, and suspended the constitution. The coup plotters, led by the 41-year-old Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, said they intervened because of the inability of the ousted government to tackle jihadists causing serious unrest in the country.

They specifically accused Kabore of failing to adequately support them against terrorists linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group. Militant attacks in the country, which started in 2015, have reportedly claimed over 2,000 lives and rendered over 1.5 million people homeless. The worst of such attacks occurred in June 2021 when militants from Mali attacked a village called Solhan, killing over 100 people. Another attack, which targeted the northern Inata military base in November 2021, led to the killing of over 50 soldiers. All these had led to mutinies in many military camps in the capital, Ouagadougou and in such towns as Kaya and Ouahigouya. There were also anti-government protests demanding the resignation of the president. 

Similar scenario had triggered the coup in Mali in August 2020.  Generally, what could trigger unrest and resultant coups in Africa include election manipulation, bad governance, poverty and endemic corruption. Some of these were the reasons the Guinean army gave for removing the country’s first freely elected President, Alpha Conde, from office in September 2021.

In the last 17 months, coup has happened four times in West Africa. Apart from the most recent one in Burkina Faso, there was a coup in Mali in August 2020. In May 2021, there was another coup attempt in the same Mali. Niger Republic also experienced a coup attempt last year. In September 2021, there was a coup in Guinea.  The first coup in West Africa occurred in Togo in 1963. It was led then by Gnassingbe Eyadema who was to become president for so many years. Sudan has the unviable record of having the highest number of coups in Africa. At the last count, it has experienced 15. At some point in her history, Nigeria also grappled with the problem.

Apart from military interventions, there is also the problem of constitutional coups which some African presidents stage to perpetuate themselves in power. Such presidents as Paul Biya of Cameroon, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Denis Sassou Nguesso of the Republic of Congo manipulated their countries constitution on term limits to allow them to continue in office. This is in spite of the fact that they have each stayed over 30 years in power. 

Coups are infectious and retrogressive. It has destroyed professionalism in the military. And it is against ECOWAS protocol. It paints the continent black before the international community. Universally, it is an aberration. The way of modern societies is multi-party democracy. The earlier Africa stops the coup virus, the better for the continent.

What usually happens currently is that after each military intervention, some world leaders and the international community go through the cycle of condemnations and threat of sanctions. For instance, French President, Emmanuel Macron, and the United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, condemned the action in Burkina Faso. Mr. Guterres said coup leaders must lay down their arms and ensure the protection of the country’s institutions. The United States Department of State also condemned the coup and urged the soldiers to return to civilian-led government and constitutional order.  The African Union (AU), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) all condemned the act. ECOWAS suspended the country from its institutions as it called on the military to return to the barracks and initiate dialogue with the authorities to resolve the problems.

We think the AU, ECOWAS and other international organisations should go beyond condemnations and threats of sanctions. The announced sanctions against Mali and Guinea have not cowed the coup plotters. ECOWAS, particularly, should think of other ways of stopping coups. Having a standby multinational force to check the monster before it gets worse may be considered. In 2017, for instance, ECOWAS intervened militarily to force Yahya Jammeh of Gambia out of office.

Democratic governments in Africa must also endeavour to provide democracy dividends for the people. Good governance, transparency, equity and respect for the rule of law are germane to tackling unnecessary military interventions. Leaders must also tackle poverty, inflation, unemployment and hunger to avoid mass discontent of the populace.

Military adventurers should realise that soldiers are trained to protect the sovereignty of their countries and not to partake in governance. They must stop usurping powers through the barrel of the guns. We call on the international community to ensure that the military remains in their barracks in all countries. Nigeria has a major role to play in this regard, especially in West Africa. For it to do it effectively, it must put its house in order first. Enough of these military interventions!