List: The 7 military coups d’etat in Africa in the last three years

Burkina Faso's new military leader Ibrahim Traore is escorted by soldiers in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. REUTERS/Vincent Bado
Sending a message to their former colonial power and its Western allies and opposing the discreditable governments in place have been the major factors occasioning the coups.
As of August 30, 2023, a total of 6 countries have experienced coups by military juntas and a possible seventh one looming along the borderlines of Gabon.
The five nations include Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Chad, Sudan and Niger.
The coups have unfolded within the context of a wider struggle between the West and Russia for influence in Africa, where experts say a rising tide of anger in former French colonies has left the door open for the Kremlin (Russian government) to take advantage.
Here are detailed highlights of the timelines starting from the most recent one.
Gabon
A group of senior Gabonese military officers appeared on national television in the early hours of Wednesday, August, 30, and said they had taken over power after the state election body announced 64-year-old President Ali Bongo had won a third term.
The officers said they represented all security and defence forces in the Central African nation, adding that the election results were cancelled.
They then announced that all borders would remain closed until further notice and state institutions dissolved.
Tensions were running high in Gabon amid fears of unrest after Saturday's presidential, parliamentary, and legislative vote, which saw Bongo seeking to extend his family's 56-year grip on power while the opposition pushed for change in the oil and cocoa-rich but poverty-stricken nation.
A lack of international observers, the suspension of some foreign broadcasts, the disabling of internet services and imposing a night-time curfew nationwide after the poll had raised concerns about the transparency of the electoral process.
Niger
In its fifth military coup since the country gained independence from France in 1960, Niger's presidential guard detained President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26 and presidential guard commander General Abdourahamane Tchiani proclaimed himself the leader of a new military junta.
On August 26, Nigerien Foreign Ministry announced that the junta gave the French ambassador in Niamey a 48-hour timeline to leave the country.
The coup was widely condemned by the United States of America and the country's former colonialist France, as well as by the West African regional bloc Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) who threatened military intervention against the junta.
Analysts cite the rising cost of living and perceptions of government incompetence, as well as Bazoum’s plans to replace the head of the presidential guard, General Abdourahmane Tchiani as possible triggers for the coup.
Niger has been a security partner of France and the US, which have used it as a base to fight an Islamist insurgency in West and Central Africa's wider Sahel region.
The coup, amongst many other effects, poses a threat to Europe's dependency on uranium mining for its nuclear power plants.
France's nuclear fuel firm Orano, formerly part of Areva, operates a uranium mine in the north of the country with Niger only accounting for a small percentage of the mineral's global production.
The company said last week that it was monitoring the situation closely but that the seizure of power by the military had not for the moment affected the delivery of uranium supplies.
The coup has attracted condemnation across the globe including President William Ruto who has called for calm in the nation.
Burkina Faso
On January 23, 2022, the nation's military base was seized by officers under military officer Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba's command. In the same premise, President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré was reported to have been detained and the military announced on television that Kaboré had been deposed as president.
What followed after was the dissolution of Parliament, government and Constitution under the military's command.
Military captain Sidsoré Kader Ouedraogo said in a statement that Kaboré's rule was being put to an end because of the deteriorating security situation amid the deepening Islamic insurgency yet the crisis was not being managed.
He added that the new military leaders would work to establish a calendar "acceptable to everyone" for holding new elections.
Damiba's rule was however shortlived as he only served as interim president from January 31 to September 30 when he also failed to tame the Islamist insurgency and Captain Ibrahim Traore took over becoming the world's youngest ruling president at 34.
Still fighting at the frontlines against the Islamists, Traore has insisted he would not be in charge for long as a national conference will appoint a new interim ruler by the end of the year.
That leader, who could be civilian or military, will honour an agreement with West Africa's regional bloc and oversee a return to civilian rule by 2024.
Meanwhile, Russia has expressed support for the coup just as regional neighbours and Western powers condemned it and has put a further strain on relations with former colonial power France,
Traore his international headlines when he accused African leaders of "beggary" at the Russia-Africa Summit in St. Petersburg, Russia on July 29.
“My generation does not understand this, how can Africa, which has so much wealth, become the poorest continent in the world today? And why African leaders travel the world to beg,” he said.
Sudan
On October 25, 2021, Kenya's neighbouring nation Sudan had a state of emergency put in place after army general Abdel Fattah al-Burhan had at least five state officials captured and confined in undisclosed locations.
Al-Burhan was the nation's leader since the military takeover in 2019 during the Sudanese Revolution when President Omar al-Bashir was overthrown and the military junta under the name Transitional Military Council (TMC) took over.
A draft constitution to allow for a democratic was formed and signed by civilians and the country's reigns were controlled by the Transitional Sovereignty Council (TSC), also headed by Al-Burhan.
Other civilian groups including the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) and Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC) were also part of the signatories in the draft constitution.
A peace agreement was then signed in 2020 in Juba which allowed Al-Burhan to continue to lead the Sovereignty Council for another 20 months. He however failed to honour the agreement and extended his reign through the coup.
Civilian Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok denied support for the coup and called for popular resistance.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Information, and the Prime Minister's Office also refused to recognise the transfer of power, labelling the coup as a crime and that Hamdok remained prime minister.
The move was backed by the European Union, the United States and other Western powers who maintained that they recognised Hamdok's cabinet. Sudan's membership was also suspended by the African Union until power was returned to Hamdok's government.
Al-Burhan then said he is willing to restore Hamdok's Cabinet though Hamdok maintained that the dialogue would only take place if the pre-coup system would be fully restored.
On 21 November 2021, the two signed a 14-point deal that reinstated Hamdok as PM and stated that all political prisoners would be freed.
Civilian groups SPA and FFC rejected the deal, refusing continued power-sharing with the military which led to Hamdok's resignation on January 2, 2022, amid continuing protests.
As of August 2023, the United Nations warned that more than 1 million people have fled the war-torn nation to neighbouring states and people inside the country are running out of food and dying due to lack of healthcare after four months of war.
Guinea
In a similar fashion to other nations, the Guinean armed forces abducted 83-year-old President Alpha Condé in September 2021 and special forces commander Mamady Doumbouya released a broadcast announcing the dissolution of the constitution and government.
However being a transformative leader and the country's first democratically elected leader, President Condé changed the constitution by referendum to allow himself to secure a third term which sparked protests but still ruled for a third term.
During the term, however, Guinea announced tax hikes, slashed spending on the police and the military, and increased funding for the office of the President and National Assembly which put the country on the edge prompting the military takeover.
Colonel Doumbouya who has vowed to transition the nation back to civilian rule said in May 2022 that the move will probably take more than three years as earlier proposed.
The proposal is likely to upset West Africa's political bloc that has called for a swift return to constitutional order.
Mali
Having had two coups just within nine months, August 2020 and May 2021, Mali has been caught up on an endless rollercoaster of political unrest.
In their first coup, President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta was removed from power by a group of military officers which was followed by months of unrest over irregularities in the March and April parliamentary elections and outrage against the kidnapping of opposition leader Soumaila Cissé.
President Keïta and Prime Minister Boubou Cissé were arrested and later announced his resignation saying he did not want the country to suffer any bloodshed.
The 2021 coup began when the Malian Army led by Vice President Assimi Goïta captured President Bah N'daw, Prime Minister Moctar Ouane and Minister of Defence Souleymane Doucouré.
Goïta, the head of the junta that led the 2020 Malian coup d'état, announced that N'daw and Ouane were stripped of their powers and that new elections would be held in 2022.
The military takeover was the country's third coup in 10 years.
So far Mali has been suspended by ECOWAS and the African Union (AU). France has also suspended joint operations with the Malian military, as well as national advisory missions.
Goita still remains the interim president and has signed into law a new mining code that will allow the government to increase its ownership of gold concessions and recoup what it says is a major shortfall in production revenues.
Mali's Finance Minister Alousseni Sanou that an audit of the mining sector had shown that the state was missing Ksh.72 billion (CFA francs 300 billion) to Ksh.144 billion (CFA francs 600 billion) which it intends to recover.
Chad
On April 20, 2021, Chadian President Idriss Déby was killed by the Northern Chad offensive, a military rebel group initiated by the Chadian rebel group Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT), putting an end to his 30-year rule.
Idriss Déby had also taken over the reins of power through a coup in 1990.
His son, Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, then a young 37-year-old general, became acting President as a special presidential election was expected in 2022.
Itno then promised to hand power to civilians through "free and democratic elections" but reneged on his words in October and his rule was extended for two years.
The rule under the junta has seen nations expressing concerns over the delayed return to democracy as recently German ambassador to Chad was declared persona non grata by the government in April for his "impolite attitude" and was expelled from the country.
Meanwhile, clashes are still ongoing in the northern region of the nation as FACT is believed to be under the protection of Libyan military commander and politician Khalifa Haftar.
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