Tag: coup
Military rule is on the rise in Africa – nothing good...
In the last few years, there has been a spate of military coups in Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Sudan and Guinea. Military rule, long...
Rethinking responses to coups in West Africa
ECOWAS should use its special summit on regional integration in 2025 to reconsider its approach to managing coups.
Recurrent coups since 2020 and the decision...
Africa’s citizens, not soldiers, must protect and demand democracy
Recent protests show that citizens can demand accountability from their leaders instead of waiting for coups to fix broken governments.
Despite decades of democracy, many...
Exclusive: General Béhanzin on defence and security in West Africa and...
In an exclusive interview, General Francis Béhanzin, the former Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace, and Security at the Economic Community of West African States...
Ecowas: why withdrawal of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso signals fresh...
On 27 January 2024, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger announced their plan to withdraw from membership of the Economic Community of West African States...
Africa can end its rash of military coups
Military coups were common in Africa during the Cold War, and now seem to be returning. Between January 2020 and August 2023, there were...
Burkina Faso Crisis Continues to Spiral
Following two military coups d’état in 2022, militant Islamist groups in Burkina Faso have moved to encircle Ouagadougou leaving a trail of unprecedented violence...
Niger: another symptom of Africa’s weak crisis-response capacity
Last month’s coup in Niger once again revealed Africa’s crisis of multilateralism. Political and security developments in Niger and other African countries confirm the...
Niger is a key player in the Sahel region – four...
The Niger coup – the fifth in the Sahel and sixth in the broader west Africa region in three years – has pushed the...
Civilian support for military coups is rising in parts of Africa:...
On the night of 13 January 1963, Togo’s President Sylvanus Olympio was shot dead by rebels in the first military coup staged in Africa....
Niger: Ecowas military intervention could trigger three bad outcomes
The threat of military force to end the coup in Niger has led to significant divisions in the region.
It has heightened tensions in Niger...
Military coups in Africa: here’s what determines a return to civilian...
Slightly more than two years after Niger’s first peaceful handover of power from one civilian president to another, the military seized power in July...
ISS: New Agenda for Peace – a reckoning for Africa on...
Conflict in Africa appears to be resurging owing to a cocktail of threats including terrorism, authoritarianism and coups, most recently in Niger, Burkina Faso,...
Niger coup: why an Ecowas-led military intervention is unlikely
Hopes are fading for a quick resolution of Niger’s coup or the potential use of force by the Economic Community of West African States...
US military presence in Niger in question following coup
The United States has 1 100 personnel in Niger and their presence there has come into question following last month’s coup.
The US has a large...
What caused the coup in Niger? An expert outlines three driving...
At an emergency meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, on 30 July, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) demanded the “immediate release and reinstatement”...
Why are military coups returning to Africa?
Coup attempts were frequent in Africa in the post-independence and Cold War periods.
By comparison, the past 20 or so years have been quiet. From...
SA calls for end of hostilities in Sudan
Government says it has noted with concern and condemns the fighting that erupted on Saturday morning in several parts of Khartoum and other areas...
The Gambia’s thwarted coup leaves many questions unanswered
There was no gunfire in Banjul, the capital of The Gambia, on December 20, 2022, or the next day when the government announced it...
2022 marked by conflict, coups
As 2022 ended, the story of African security was marked by continuing conflicts, coups and the unrest caused by them. Civil war continued to...
ISS: São Tomé and Príncipe’s hidden turbulence
São Tomé and Príncipe, the archipelagic island state just off the coast of Gabon, is regarded as a beacon of democracy in Africa. It...
Jihadism and military takeovers in West Africa: Burkina Faso coup highlights...
The West African sub-region at the southern edge of the Sahara Desert has recently attracted significant attention. The main reasons have been an increase...
Understanding Burkina Faso’s latest coup
Two coups d’état in 9 months mark the latest inflection point in Burkina Faso’s political instability, causing heightened uncertainty as the country faces an...
ISS: Security priorities for Burkina Faso’s new transition
On 30 September, disgruntled army officers staged a coup that toppled Burkina Faso’s transitional military leader Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Damiba. Eight months earlier, Damiba had...
Cocaine, coups plague Guinea-Bissau
Since gaining independence in 1974, Guinea-Bissau has experienced at least nine different coup attempts.
The most recent plot, in February, shared similarities with others in...
ISS: Burkina Faso’s junta under pressure to deliver on security promises
The junta in power in Ouagadougou justified the 24 January coup by citing the inability of former president Roch Marc Christian Kaboré’s government to...
Why West Africa has had so many coups and how to...
West Africa’s latest successful coup, in Burkina Faso on 24 January 2022, has renewed unease about coups “returning” and democracies “dying” in Africa. The...
ISS: What caused the coup in Burkina Faso?
The 24 January military coup that overthrew Burkina Faso’s president Roch Marc Christian Kaboré comes amid a deepening security crisis in the country. Both...
Sudan cut off from $650 million of international funding after coup
Sudan was unable to access $650 million in international funding in November when assistance was paused after a coup, the finance minister of the...
Sudan’s military takeover threatens national and regional security and peace
Olusegun AkinfenwaOlusegun AkinfenwaThe current political tension in Sudan can be traced to the fall of the 30-year reign of the former leader Omar al-Bashir...
Sudan’s military leaders could face isolation after coup
Sudan’s military leadership could face isolation at home and abroad if it tries to tighten its grip after seizing power in the face of...
Tribal group lifts blockade of Sudan’s main port one week after...
A tribal group announced on Monday it would temporarily lift a six-week blockade on Sudan's main seaport, a week after the military took power...
Three people shot dead during huge protests against Sudan coup, doctors...
Security forces shot dead three people during nationwide protests in Sudan on Saturday, a doctors committee said, as hundreds of thousands of people demanded...
Sudanese general ignored US warning as army rolled out coup plan
Hours before Sudan’s army seized power and dissolved its government, a senior U.S. envoy warned the country’s top general not to take any steps...
ISS: Sudan’s coup plotters have miscalculated their options
The military has shown poor judgement of the political and security climate in Sudan and the international community.
After months of mounting tension, the most...
Sudanese army faces widening opposition to takeover
The Sudanese army was facing widening opposition on Thursday to this week’s coup, with state officials in Khartoum vowing disobedience and activists mobilising for...
Sudan capital locked down after coup triggers deadly unrest
Roads were blocked, shops were shut, phones were down and mosque loudspeakers blared calls for a general strike in Sudan on Tuesday, a day...
ISS: African coups are making a comeback
The AU should do more to pre-empt coups by sanctioning bad governance and attempts by presidents to extend their terms.
Coups used to be the...
Sudan military-civilian tensions reach low point in wake of coup attempt
Tensions between Sudan's military and civilian politicians reached a low point on Sunday in the wake of last week's attempted coup with senior officials...
Sudan says coup thwarted, accuses Bashir loyalists
Sudanese authorities said they had foiled an attempted coup on Tuesday, accusing loyalists of ousted president Omar al-Bashir of trying to reverse the revolution...
Guinea junta starts transitional government talks following coup
Guinea's new military rulers began consultations with political, religious and business leaders on Tuesday which they say will lead to the formation of a...
Regional envoys meet Guinea junta, ousted president after coup
A delegation from West Africa's main political and economic bloc on Friday met Guinea's ousted president Alpha Conde and members of the junta that...
Regional envoys to hold talks with Guinea junta over coup
A delegation from West Africa’s main political and economic bloc arrived in the Guinean capital on Friday in hopes of steering the junta that...
Guinean political prisoners freed, regional bloc to discuss coup
Guinea's military leaders have freed scores of political prisoners before a meeting of West African leaders to discuss their response to Sunday's coup that...
‘Unattainable power’: the frustrations that drove Guinea’s coup leader
In 2016, Mamady Doumbouya, a commander in the Guinean army, asked his superiors if he could have ammunition to train his troops in marksmanship....
ISS: A new coup derails Mali’s transition
A cabinet reshuffle exposes the military’s stranglehold and shatters the facade of a civilian-led process.
Nine months after the 18 August 2020 coup that removed...
Niger says it foils coup attempt days before presidential transition
A military unit tried to seize the presidential palace in Niger’s capital Niamey overnight in an attempted coup but order has been restored, the...
Singapore anti-drone firm cuts Myanmar ties after coup
A Singaporean firm that has sold anti-drone products to Myanmar’s police is halting further business in the country and has canceled a deal with...
Mali must appoint civilian government – claim
Mali military coup leaders must hand power to a civilian transitional government immediately, the chairman of the West African regional bloc said, as a...
An office chair and water cooler among the spoils of Mali’s...
In the chaotic hours between shots being fired at barracks outside Bamako and the president’s reluctant resignation, the first spoils of Tuesday’s coup in...
