“As far as we’re concerned, it’s not a coup, it’s the liberation of a country, which was being governed by people who were incompetent.”

 – Juliene Traore, a pro-coup d’état protester in Burkina Faso to AFP news.

Like Juliene Traore, there are thousands more in the Sahel region who support the recent military coups in Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, and Niger. During these coup d’états, thousands of civilians took to the streets to demonstrate their support for the coup leaders and celebrate the removal of what they describe as corrupt leaders. This has become a trend in the West African and Sahel region, where nine attempted coup d’états have happened in the past three years. These coups did not come as a surprise–due to the long-ignored systemic failures and growing societal discontent, they were expected. This report briefly examines the political crisis in the West African region and suggests possible ways the region could move forward.

What is a coup d’état?

A coup d’état is an “illegal and overt attempt by the military or other elites within the state apparatus to unseat the sitting executive,” as Powell and Thyne describe in a 2011 article published in the Journal of Peace Research. In other words, a coup d’état is a method of seizing power suddenly and illegally by the military or other groups (state and non-state actors). It involves the use of force, which can result in violence and deaths. This has been a popular method by African military leaders to grab power.

Coup d’états in Africa

Africa accounts for 44% of the world’s attempted coups. Between 1950 and 2023, about 220 attempted coups took place in this region. Sudan tops the list with 17 coups since 1950, followed by Burundi with 11, while Ghana and Sierra Leone are in third with 10 attempted coups each. Within Africa, the majority of the coups, roughly 58%, took place in the West African and Sahel regions. But why are these particular regions so prone to coup d’états?

Causes of coups in West African and Sahel regions

The Sahel region, a semiarid region stretching eastward from Senegal in West Africa to Sudan in East Africa has suffered from a long history of instability, poverty, and extremism. For example, Mali has combated Islamist militants in the country for more than 10 years. Burkina Faso has fought for eight years against groups allied to both al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS). Niger has faced threats from insurgent groups like Boko Haram since 2015. Boko Haram, a powerful terrorist group whose fundamental goal is to overthrow the Nigerian government, has operated in the Lake Chad Basin at the intersection of Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria. These insurgencies resulted in the deaths of many civilians, economic destabilisation, and security crises in the region.

In addition, governmental corruption is prevalent in this region. Government officials are often accused of embezzling public funds and nepotism. For example, Vincent Dabilgou, the former Minister of Transport of Burkina Faso, was found guilty of embezzlement of public funds, involving 1.12 billion CFA franc (around 1.7 million Euros), illicit enrichment, and money laundering. In Niger, more than $100M of public money was reported to be lost in a series of potentially corrupt international arms deals.

In Mali, former president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was known for nepotism for appointing family members to key government positions. He appointed his son, Karim Keita, as the president of the National Assembly Defence Committee; he assigned Issaka Sibibe, his father-in-law, the role of the president of the National Assembly and Minister of Investment. Keita’s government also lost an estimated 70 billion CFA franc (more than 100 million Euros) through fraud and mismanagement in 2017. These factors – government corruption, rising poverty, and insurgencies – make a country more likely to see a coup. Coup leaders in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger have cited issues regarding corruption as one of their reasons to intervene militarily in order to void the gradual collapse of the country.

Why Civilians are supporting coup d’états

It is for the same reasons – the potential collapse of the country, government corruption, rising poverty and insecurity – that the civilians have shown support for the coup leaders.

“I have no job after studying in this country because of the regime France supports, all that has to go!” said pro-coup protesters to Le Monde during Niger’s pro-coup rally along with thousands of others who chanted. “Down with France”, “Long live Russia, long live Putin”.

Similar scenes took place in Mali, Guinea, and Burkina Faso during their coups in 2020, 2021, and 2022 respectively. Citizens took to the streets to celebrate the coup against their elected leaders.

“We called for President Kabore’s departure several times, but he didn’t listen to us. The army heard us and understood,” Lassane Ouedrago, a pro-coup supporter in Niger.

Coup D’états or Liberation Struggles?

These celebrations are an indication of the public’s dissident towards their elected leaders. Civilians support coups because they offer liberation from corrupt and incompetent leaders and hope for a better future. This creates an ever-growing friction between the pro-coup supporters and the international institutions, especially with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

The condemnation and sanctions against the coups from ECOWAS are justified under Article 2 of the Supplementary Act A/SP.2/08/11 on Sanctions Against Member States that fail to honour their obligations to ECOWAS. The article states that ECOWAS can impose sanctions on a member state that fails to uphold the principles of the rule of law, democracy, and constitutional order. However, these sanctions have sent a negative message to the public, creating division between the ECOWAS and coup supporters.

This is because ECOWAS and the pro-coup supporters do not share the same sentiment about the elected governments. ECOWAS sees the deposed governments as democratically elected governments that are illegally removed from power in military coups. In contrast, the pro-coup supporters see them as corrupt and incompetent, which they needed liberation from. The sanctions and condemnation have only worsened the relationship between pro-coup civilians and ECOWAS.

“ECOWAS doesn’t care about us, and the international community only wants to condemn, this [a coup] is what we want,” said Armel Ouedraogo, a pro-coup supporter in Niger. From the civilian’s perspective, these are liberation struggles: liberation from poverty, corruption, and instability. While from the legal and political perspective, these are coup d’états that undermine international law and cause instability in the region.

A way forward

Therefore, instead of condemning and isolating these countries through sanctions, ECOWAS and the AU should unite and tackle the core issues that caused instability in these countries (government corruption, poverty, and insurgencies).

Since civilians are the ones most affected by government decisions, ECOWAS and the African Union should seek to understand the current crisis from the civilian’s perspective and take a stronger stance against government corruption and overstepping of power. This can be done by amending current constitutions or by introducing laws to better protect constitutional democracy and civilians from corrupt government activities.

Similarly, a similar approach should be followed against the terrorists in the region: governments and international organiazations should work towards a common goal to establish stability through peace deals or counter-terrorism measures. However, there is also a need for more foreign assistance. ECOWAS should seek military and intelligence support from other African countries as well as non-African countries to effectively deal with the terrorists. These measures will tackle the root cause of the coups and prevent instability from spreading.