African Union High Representative for Silencing the Gun, Dr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas, has bemoaned the increasing rate of recorded coup d’états on the African continent and how it is impacting growth and development.
According to him, from August 2020 to August 2023, there have been 13 coups and coup attempts in Africa of which six African countries suffered eight successful coups in this period, with Mali in August 2020 and May 2021, Chad in April 2021, Guinea in September 2021, Sudan in October 2021, Burkina Faso in January and September 2022, Niger in July 2023, and Gabon in October 2023.
Also, five African countries faced failed coup attempts: Niger in March 2021, Sudan in September 2021, Guinea-Bissau in February 2022, São Tomé and Príncipe in November 2022, Gambia in December 2022, and just last month, Sierra Leone.
Ibn Chambas said the coups, according to the UN’s Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres were attributed to the strong geopolitical divides between nations; the COVID-19 pandemic’s economic and social impact on countries; and the UN Security Council’s inability to take strong measures in response to coups.
He said the situation in the West African sub-region has deteriorated faster, compared to the rest of the African continent, adding that, “West Africa has been marked recently by processes leading to manipulation of constitutions to extend term limits, instrumentalisation of justice, and electoral systems that hamper the participation of potential candidates and voters as well.”
“Electoral management bodies not sufficiently independent, excessive abuse of incumbents, state capture, monetisation of politics and maginalisation of youth and women,” he added.
On terrorism, he pointed out that data available in the Africa Terrorism database suggest that West Africa at the regional level has the highest number of terrorist attacks, as the region recorded 1,027 attacks that resulted in 6,255 deaths.
He called on the African agency, the African Union, and Regional Economic Communities (RECs) such as ECOWAS to design socio-economic and humanitarian policies that will benefit marginalised communities, as well as institute inclusive and participative transitions that will return the countries that have suffered coup d’états to democratic constitutional rule and push back terrorists and violent extremists.
Ibn Chambas made these remarks at the Research and Action for Peace Network Project Regional Conference on the theme: “Unifying for Stability: Addressing Violent Extremism Amidst Political Uncertainties in West Africa and the Lake Chad Basin” in Accra.
Source: Prince Fiifi Yorke