Over the decades, Africa has witnessed an epidemic of coups, with a record of at least one coup attempt in 45 out of the 54 African countries since 1950. On a global scale, 15 of the 20 countries topping the 2022 Fragile States Index are in Africa, and 12 of these have had at least one successful coup in their history.
In the last three years, Africa has seen a significant increase in coups, –that is, an unlawful and open effort by the military or other state elites to overthrow the current executive– with military figures carrying out takeovers in Gabon, Niger, Burkina Faso, Sudan, Guinea, Chad, and Mali. These coup attempts are not unique to these countries alone. Since 2020, there have been nine coups in West Africa, Central Africa, and the Sahel region.
Following this pattern of collapsing governments, Burkina Faso recorded two military coups in 2022. Then, on July 26, 2023, the presidential guard in uranium-rich Niger overthrew democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum, before the Gabon coup a few weeks later. Since the beginning of last year, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, and Sao Tome and Principe have all witnessed failed coup attempts.
Succeeding this recent wave of putsches, The Democratic Republic of Congo on 19th May, 2024 witnessed a “foiled” coup attempt against President Félix Tshisekedi led by a US-based Congolese, Christian Malanga, with a band of 50 Congolese and foreigners in the nation’s capital of Kinshasa.
Just like many other coups in the continent that ensues following a dissatisfaction in election outcomes and results, this failed coup attempt occurred amid political tensions within President Felix Tshisekedi’s ruling coalition over parliamentary leadership elections held in December 2023 which was reportedly marred by logistical issues, irregularities, and violence.
In many – though not all – of these instances, these uprisings and coups appear to have had significant popular support from civilians. Which begs the question, are people fed up with civilian-led governments even though they are often at least notionally democratic? Is Africa backsliding from its progress toward greater democracy?
A number of underlying fuelling factors have been traced by experts as causes of the recurring coups in Africa. Top on the list is the weak democratic processes that have often failed nations in Francophone West Africa and the Sahel in particular, resulting in deepening inequality, corrupt administrations and fragile ethnic and cultural accords. Those conditions, in turn, attract paternalistic superpowers that are keen to extend their influence.
The combination of economic challenges such as high cost of living, inflation, and unemployment, as well as, corruption- the giant in the room- and perceived failures of civilian governments have been cited as reasons for coups in several African countries including the DRC.
The African Union Peace and Security Council in 2014 also highlighted “deficiencies in governance” along with “greed, selfishness, mismanagement of diversity, mismanagement of opportunity, marginalization, abuse of human rights, refusal to accept electoral defeat, manipulation of constitution[s], as well as unconstitutional review of constitution[s] to serve narrow interests, as factors that lead to coup.
As a way out, regional and international cooperation is essential in maintaining stability and democracy. The African Union’s and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have responded to these crises by condemning the attempted coups with sanctions and threats of military action.
What then is the reality? In the words of Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan, “Unless and until African governments address the deficiencies in democratic governance and deliver essential public services to their people, democracy will remain an aspiration never to be meaningfully realised.”