Military coups in Africa: What determines a return to civilian rule
Supporters cheer from the stands as artists perform during a concert in support to Niger's National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland at the General Seyni Kountche Stadium in Niamey on August 13, 2023. PHOTO | AFP
Slightly more than two years after Niger’s first peaceful handover of power from one civilian president to another, the military seized power in July 2023. The coup – the fourth in Nigerien history – follows on the heels of recent military interventions in Africa. Mali (August 2020 and May 2021), Chad (April 2021), Guinea (September 2021), Sudan (October 2021) and Burkina Faso (January and September 2022).
Since the end of the Cold War in 1991, the number of military coups has declined sharply. However, francophone West Africa now accounts for approximately two-thirds of all military coups that have occurred since then.
