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Explainer: Africa's eight coups in three years

Coups have happened in Francophone countries; latest being in Gabon

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by EMMANUEL WANJALA

News31 August 2023 - 14:55
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In Summary


  • • On August 18, 2020, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was overthrown by mutinying soldiers in a coup d'état ending his seven-year reign.
  • The next day, Keïta dissolved parliament and announced his resignation, saying he wanted "no blood to be spilled" to keep him in power.
Niger coup leaders salute thousands of coup supporters in a stadium after they ousted President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26.

2020 Mali Coup

On August 18, 2020, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was overthrown by mutinying soldiers in a coup d'état ending his seven-year reign.

The next day, Keïta dissolved parliament and announced his resignation, saying he wanted "no blood to be spilt" to keep him in power.

The coup was largely precipitated by huge anti-government protests over his handling of Jihadist unrest.

An economic crisis and disputed elections also fuelled the demonstrations against his rule.

Keita was released from custody by the coup leaders on August 27, 2020, and named Bah Ndaw as interim president.

Keita died on January 16, 2022, in the capital Bamako aged 76.

2021 Mali Coup

Ndaw, a retired military officer, ruled Mali from September 25, 2020, to May 24, 2021, when he was also overthrown in a coup d'état.

Ndaw was taken into detention by military officers outside the capital Bamako alongside Prime Minister Moctar Ouane and Defence Minister Souleymane Doucoure of the interim government.

Reason? Two members of the military had lost their positions in a government reshuffle hours before the coup.

They were released from house detention on August 27, 2021.

Mali’s strongman Colonel Assimi Goita who orchestrated both coups was named interim president.

Colonel Sadio Camara, one of the officers sidelined in the reshuffle that provoked the coup against Ndaw, was reappointed as defence minister.

2021 Guinea Coup

Alpha Condé was ousted as Guinean president on the morning of September 5, 2021, by masked soldiers after heavy gunfire in the presidential residence and the streets of Conakry, Guinea’s capital.

Hours later, soldiers draped in Guinean flags led by Lieutenant Colonel Mamady Doumbouya appeared on television and declared the constitution and government dissolved.

“The personalisation of political life is over. We will no longer entrust politics to one man, we will entrust it to the people,” Doumbouya said.

He said they had little option but to overthrow the government because of rampant corruption, disregard for human rights and economic mismanagement under the ousted president.

“Look at the state of our roads, of our hospitals,” he said. “It’s time for us to wake up.”

On October 1, 2021, Doumbouya was sworn in as interim president.

Conde would remain under house arrest until April 23, 2022, and was “finally free" to receive visitors, the junta said.

But it wasn’t until May 21, 2022, that the Junta allowed him to travel outside the country out of respect for his “dignity and integrity” and for “humanitarian reasons.”

2021 Sudan Coup

On October 25, 2021, the Sudanese military, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, seized power in a military coup and arrested at least five senior figures of the transitional government including Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.

Later the same day, the Sovereignty Council was dissolved, and a state of emergency was declared.

The transitional government was appointed following the toppling of Omar al-Bashir in April 2019.

On April 15, 2023, an armed conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), rival factions of the military government of Sudan, broke out.

The two sides were allies in the 2021 coup and the conflict is primarily a power struggle between their leaders.

2022 Burkina Faso Double Coups

Burkina Faso suffered two coups in 2022 eight months apart.

In the first coup on January 24, President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré was deposed by the military  

The military leaders cited deterioration of the security situation and what it described as Kaboré's inability to unite the nation and effectively respond to the challenges it faces.

The military takeover was orchestrated in the name of an entity never heard of before in Burkina Faso - the Patriotic Movement for Safeguard and Restoration (MPSR).

The military leaders said their decision was rooted in the failure of Lt Col Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba to control escalating violence

Three weeks later, Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba who led the coup was inaugurated as Burkina Faso’s president.

On September 30, Captain Ibrahim Traore deposed Damiba and became Burkina Faso’s new leader.

The soldiers dissolved the transitional government and suspended the constitution.

They cited Damiba’s inability to deal with the worsening armed uprising.  

After the army announced his deposition, Damiba fled to Togo.

2023 Niger Coup

On July 26, 2023, the Niger junta ousted President Mohamed Bazoum and placed him under house arrest.

The military leaders have since resisted international pressure to release Bazoum and return him to power, even as the West African regional bloc Ecowas threatened military action.

Abdourahmane Tchiani, the leader of the presidential guard which led the revolt appointed himself head of the country's new military government

On August 14, the junta announced plans to prosecute Bazoum for high treason and undermining national security.

2023 Gabon Coup

On August 30, military officers in oil-rich Gabon said they had seized power and placed President Ali Bongo under house arrest.

The seizure of power came hours after the country’s electoral commission declared Bongo the winner of Saturday’s presidential elections.

Bongo won a third seven-year term with 64.27 per cent of the vote.

He remains under house arrest. The Junta on Thursday installed his cousin General Brice Clotaire Oligui-Nguema as the transitional President.

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