A SORRY STATE
Last month’s coup in Burkina Faso is the latest in a long line of unconstitutional changes of government in the West African country and the region. Threats of sanction seem to have little deterrent effect
The recent Burkina Faso coup followed a familiar pattern: gunfire in the capital, Ouagadougou; rumours of a military takeover; and then, two whole days later, an announcement by a military leader, flanked by soldiers, that the president had been removed and detained.
In addition to announcing the overthrow of President Roch Kaboré — re-elected just two years ago, in 2020 — Lt-Col Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba said the group had suspended the constitution and dissolved the government and parliament.
Media reported about 1,000 people celebrating in the national square; however, most people just went about their business.
The January 24 putsch was the fifth such event in West and Central Africa in 18 months after Chad, Guinea and two in Mali, and international bodies immediately condemned it.
At a special summit on Friday, the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) suspended Burkina Faso’s membership, with Ecowas chair and Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo calling the coup “a threat to peace, security and stability in West Africa”.
The AU, which is set to hold its annual heads of state summit in Addis Ababa this weekend, followed suit on Monday, marking the fourth suspension by the continental body in 18 months, following those of Mali, Sudan and Guinea.
Chad, incidentally, is still a member after an unconstitutional change of power in April, when president Idriss Déby Itno was killed in combat and his son Mahamat took power. Chad’s neighbours have cited security concerns as a reason for not suspending the country, but analysts believe the AU has been inconsistent.
Still, the threat of sanctions doesn’t seem to have deterred prospective putschists — a matter that is expected to be on the AU summit agenda.
“We are all concerned about coups taking place on the continent,” a high-ranking SA official tells the FM. “This is a reversal of the democratic gains achieved in the late 1990s. The matter is complex and the suspensions and sanctions might not be enough, but that’s what’s available.”
The official says the deeper problem is poor governance. “In the end, it’s the citizens of a country who would need to organise themselves to challenge governance issues and the allocation of resources,” he says.
Clayson Monyela, of SA’s department of international relations & co-operation, issued a statement a day after the coup, aligning SA with Ecowas: “There can never be a military solution to issues of this nature. Dialogue and negotiation are the only means of resolving conflict and arriving at lasting resolutions.”
The Burkinabé coup took place amid a deteriorating security situation in the country and the region. In the lead-up to the takeover, there were protests over the authorities’ apparent inability to contain violence linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. About 2,000 people have been killed by militants in the past six years, with 1.5-million displaced, according to the UN Refugee Agency.
The protests were sparked by an attack on the northern village of Solhan in June, which killed more than 100 people. Kaboré reshuffled his cabinet and appointed himself defence minister, but another attack followed on the Inata military base in November, killing more than 50 security force members.
There’s been increasing unhappiness in the military about Kaboré’s failure to provide adequate support. Two weeks before the attack the base had reportedly asked for food rations and equipment, but these didn’t arrive.
Coups have become a feature of Burkina Faso’s recent history. Blaise Compaoré was overthrown in 2014 after he tried to amend the constitution for a third term.
Compaoré himself came to the presidency after the overthrow of charismatic military leader Thomas Sankara, who took power in a 1983 coup organised by Compaoré.
In her analysis, BBC correspondent Lalla Sy says many Burkinabé in the past few days have been reminded of Sankara. Like the popular leader, Damiba wears a red beret, and has spoken of “dignity”, “integrity”, an “anthem of victory”, “homeland or death” and “we shall overcome”. His lack of concrete proposals, however, has drawn criticism.
The coup was not entirely unexpected. Ghana-based analyst Emmanuel Bensah says terrorist attacks on Burkina Faso should have been a warning to Ecowas leaders after similar issues led to the coups in Mali.
But, he adds, the reasons for the coups are “more nuanced and complicated” than just the security situation. Young people, for example, “understand they can get a better Africa than they are now witnessing”.
He says development initiatives by the AU, such as the African Continental Free Trade Area, are just as important as peace and security measures for improving governance and lives.