On August 30, top military commanders in Gabon declared on national television that they had assumed power and annulled the results of the election in the country that announced President Ali Bongo’s third term victory.
Africa, especially the western and central regions, has in the last few years become a ‘hub’ for military coups. If successful, the Gabon coup will be the second in two months this year and the eighth since 2020.
Below is a list of recent military coups in the continent
NIGER
On July 26, 2023, members of Niger’s presidential guard detained President Mohamed Bazoum inside his palace, declaring on national television that they were seizing power to address the “deteriorating security situation and bad governance.”
Abdourahamane Tiani, the commander of the presidential guard, was named the new head of state a few days later by the military junta.
The leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have been in talks with the Junta to reinstate constitutional order, noting that they will activate ‘standby forces’ if diplomacy fails.
BURKINA FASO
The country had two coups in 2022. In January 2022, Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Damiba ousted President Roch Kabore over failure to contain violence by Islamist militants.
However, on September 30, 2022, Captain Ibrahim Traore seized power from Damiba to become the country’s new leader.
GUINEA
President Alpha Conde was overthrown in September 2021 by special forces leader Colonel Mamady Doumbouya after the former altered the constitution in 2020 to get around restrictions that would have prohibited him from running for a third term, which had led to severe unrest.
ECOWAS thereafter imposed sanctions on Doumbouya, junta leaders, and relatives, rejecting the promise of a transition to democracy in three years.
CHAD
After President Idriss Deby was killed in combat while visiting forces engaged in fighting rebels in the north, the Chadian army seized control of the country in April 2021.
The president’s son, General Mahamat Idriss Deby, was named interim president, which contravenes Chadian law, where the speaker of parliament should have become president.
The unlawful transfer of power sparked rioting in N’Djamena, the country’s capital, which the military eventually put down.
MALI
President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was overthrown in August 2020 by a gang of Malian colonels under the command of Assimi Goita. The coup came after anti-government demonstrations about worsening security, contentious elections for the legislature, and corruption charges.
The junta consented to hand over control to an interim administration run by civilians, which will oversee an 18-month transition to free and fair elections in February 2022.
After a clash between the coup leader and the interim president, retired colonel Bah Ndaw, the junta staged a second coup in May 2021. Assimi Goita, who had been acting vice president in the meantime, was promoted to the position of president.