Growing list of countries in the Sahel run by the military adds Niger

By Osoro Nyawangah, MWANZA Tanzania

Mutinous soldiers in Niger this week overthrew the democratically elected government of President Mohamed Bazoum, adding to a growing list of military regimes in West Africa’s Sahel region and raising fears of regional destabilization.

General Abdourahamane Tiani, the commander of Niger's presidential guard, was appointed head of state last week by a governing council set up by military forces that ousted President Mohammed Bazoum.

General Tiani, 59, has shunned the limelight despite a stellar military career which saw him lead the elite 700-member unit from 2011 up until now.

"He is not well known outside military circles. He is a man in the background, powerful," said Ibrahim Yahaya Ibrahim, a researcher with the International Crisis Group think tank.

Niger is an extremely poor nation but with vast uranium deposits. It has suffered four coups since independence from France in 1960 and several other failed putsch attempts and is currently in the throes of jihadist violence like its neighbours.

The Sahel, the vast arid expanse south of the Sahara Desert, faces growing violence from Islamic extremists, which in turn has caused people to turn against elected governments.

The military takeovers have followed a similar pattern: The coup leaders accuse the government of failing to meet the people’s expectations for delivering dividends of democracy. They say they will usher in a new democratic government to address those shortcomings, but the process gets delayed.

Karim Manuel, west and central Africa analyst for the Economist Intelligence Unit, says the military governments threaten to unwind democratic gains made not just in the Sahel region but in the broader West Africa region.

“This increases political instability going forward and makes the situation on the ground much more volatile and unpredictable. Regional stability is undermined as a result of these coups,” Manuel said.

The Sahel region comprises Senegal, Gambia, Mauritania, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Nigeria.

Here are countries in the Sahel with military regimes:

MALI:

The Sahel’s latest wave of coups kicked off in Mali in August 2020 when the democratically elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta was overthrown by soldiers led by Col. Assimi Goita.

The military was supposed to hand power back to civilian rule within 18 months. However, seven months into the transition process, the military removed the interim president and prime minister they had appointed and swore in Goita as president of the transitional government.

Last month, Malian voters cast ballots on a new draft constitution in a referendum that the regime says will pave the way for new elections in 2024.

BURKINA FASO:

Burkina Faso experienced its second coup in 2022 with soldiers ousting Lt. Col. Paul Henri Sandaogo Damiba about eight months after he helped overthrow the democratically elected President Roch Marc Kaboré early in the year.

Capt. Ibrahim Traore was named as the transitional president while a national assembly that included army officers, civil society organizations, and traditional and religious leaders approved a new charter for the West African country.

The junta has set a goal to conduct elections to return the country to democratic rule by July 2024.

SUDAN:

Sudan has had the most coups and attempted takeovers in Africa amounting to 16; six of which were successful.

In 2019, long-serving leader Omar al-Bashir was removed from power following months of protests. Bashir himself took over in a military coup in 1989.

Sudan slipped under military rule in October 2021 when soldiers dissolved the transitional government of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok as well as the Sovereign Council, a power-sharing body of military officers and civilians.

That took place weeks before the military was to hand the leadership of the council to civilians and nearly two years after soldiers overthrew the longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir amid deadly protests.

Eighteen months after the coup and amid the hopes for a transition to democracy, fighting broke out between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The conflict has resulted in the deaths of hundreds with no end in sight.

CHAD

Chad has been under military rule since April 2021 when President Idriss Deby, who ruled Chad for more than 30 years, was killed while battling against rebels in the hard-hit northern region.

His son, Gen. Mahamat Idriss Deby, took power contrary to constitutional provisions and was named the interim head of state with an 18-month transitional process set in place for the country’s return to democracy.

By the end of the 18 months period, the government extended Deby’s by two more years, triggering protests that the military suppressed.

GUINEA

On 5 September 2021, President of Guinea Alpha Condé was captured by the country's armed forces in a coup d'état after gunfire in the capital, Conakry. Special forces commander Mamady Doumbouya released a broadcast on state television announcing the dissolution of the constitution and government.

After several decades of authoritarian rule in Guinea, Condé was the country's first democratically elected leader.

During his time in office, Guinea used its rich natural resources to improve the economy, but the bulk of the country's population has not felt its effects. In 2020, Condé changed the constitution by referendum to allow himself to secure a third term, a controversial change which spurred the 2019–2020 Guinean protests.

During the last year of the second term and his third term, Condé cracked down on protests and on opposition candidates, some of which died in prison, while the government struggled to contain price increases in basic commodities.

In August 2021, in an attempt to balance the budget, Guinea announced tax hikes, slashed spending on the police and the military, and increased funding for the office of the President and National Assembly.

The coup began in the morning of 5 September, when the Republic of Guinea Armed Forces surrounded Sekhoutoureah Presidential Palace and cordoned off the wider government district. After a shootout with pro-government forces, the mutineers, who appear to be led by Doumbouya, took Condé hostage.

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Burundi's history has been marked by eleven separate coups, mostly driven by the tensions between the Hutu and Tutsi communities.

Sierra Leone experienced three coups between 1967 and 1968, and another one in 1971. Between 1992 and 1997, it experienced five further coup attempts.

Ghana has also had its share of military coups, with eight in two decades. The first was in 1966, when Kwame Nkrumah was removed from power, and in the following year there was an unsuccessful attempt by junior army officers.

Nigeria had a reputation for military coups following independence with eight between January 1966 and the takeover by Gen Sani Abacha in 1993. However, since 1999 transfers of power in Africa's most populous nation have been by democratic election.

In 2021, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that "military coups are back," adding that "geo-political divisions are undermining international co-operation and... a sense of impunity is taking hold," he said.

Overall, Africa has experienced more coups than any other continent. Of the 17 coups recorded globally since 2017, all but one - Myanmar in 2021 - have been in Africa.