Coups D’état in Africa, Essay Example

Since several countries attained their independence in Africa, there have been about 200 military coups in different countries.  While some of them were successful with the military leadership lasting for some time, others were only attempts that never bore fruits. Various factors including poor economic and political conditions and foreign influence at different times such as the cold –war are considered among the main factors that drive political conflicts and coups in Africa. The destabilizing factors in most coups include countries seeking to become stable after their independence, poor governance, corrupt officials, and autocratic regimes (O’Kane 252) In many of the coups experienced since the years of independence, there has been international intervention to restore peace in the affected countries. Among the countries where coups occurred, and the international unions intervened, the coups were successful as opposed to those in which there was no international from the foreign world.

Among the coups experienced in Africa is that which occurred in Burundi in 2015. The crisis in Burundi arose as a result of the incumbent president Nkurunzinza declaring his interest in running for the presidential seat for the third time in a row. The announcement saw several followers on the opposition run to the streets with claims that his plan was against the term limits recorded in the constitution. In May the same year, army officers planned and launched a coup which aimed at overthrowing the president while he attended peace meetings in Tanzania. The takeover of the government was done under the leadership of Godefroid Niyombare who was a retired chief of staff of the armed forces. The coup, which lasted for two days with citizens living in confusion over who ruled the country, was not successful due to the existence of a divided army in the country. The coup is believed to have been ended by army and police officers who were loyal to the president. The announcement that the attempted overthrow plan had been defeated was done by the loyalist police officers while the president was still on his mission in Tanzania.

Despite the presence of several fragilities in the political stability and peace status in Burundi, the international interventions in the country have been wanting. In 2015, after the attempted coup the African Union Peace and Security Council elected more than 5000 peacemakers to go to the country to hold reconciliation meetings. However, the move encountered opposition from the government of Burundi forcing the union to backtrack on its pledge. A year later, the UNSC also planned to send 288 officers to Burundi to go and hold talks on what it claimed as cases of violation of human rights by the government (Janvier 17). Still, the government was so reluctant in cooperating with the union. The failure of international unions to intervene in the situation in Burundi is a show of how the lack of international intervention is directly linked to the failure of a coup. In this case, the coup would have been successful if the UNSC would have intervened as it aimed to fight the government against its inhuman treatment of its citizens and soldiers.

While the coup d’état in Burundi was evidence of the unlikelihood of the success of a coup in the absence of international intervention, the successful overthrow in Nigeria shows the effect that global intervention has on a coup d’état. On the 31^st December 1983, the army officers in Nigeria overpowered the Government and took over the leadership of the country. The main reason for the coup was a complete loss in the confidence of the Government at that time. Although the election that had taken place was used as the main reason for the coup, the army had lost total faith in the existing civilian regime. Moreover, the Nigerian economy was stumbling with claims that the foreign reserves and earlier revenues had not been effectively used to build the economy. The coup was led by Major General Muhammadu Buhari who was believed to have had links with the Muslim North. Initially, Buhari tried to correct the political challenges in the country in a peaceful way (Global security nd). He aimed at reestablishing the country’s economy and restoring public accountability without interfering with the its operations. However, the military was already fed up with the way in which the government was being run with several cases of corruption and a huge public debt. The army’s leadership, under the management of Buhari, held negotiations with the International Monetary Fund to reschedule the debt. Despite his concentration on austerity, the IMF put across drastic measures that would result in the reduction of the national debt (Global security nd). Some of the measures which the organization put in place included drastic measures to reduce the level of national spending, restructuring of the economy and devaluation of Nigeria’s currency. In 1985, the army experienced huge frustrations resulting from a serious economic crisis, civilian criticism, and failed attempts to fight corruption. In 1985, a group of army officers removed Buhari and took over the military leadership (Global security nd). The new regime worked hard to get the country back to civilian leadership. The intervention of the IMF in Nigeria greatly influenced the success of the Coup. Being the main source of funding in the country, it enabled Buhari to run Nigeria even under massive debt that had been accumulated by the civilian government.

The last proof of the success of a coup under the influence of international intervention was in Congo in 1960. After the country gained independence from the Belgians, the country fell into another crisis. The triggering factors to the coup that would take place later during the year included the army mutiny and the Belgium intervention that followed with the aim of protecting its citizens from the confusion that had struck the country. In addition to these factors, the constitution also brought more confusion by creating a bridge between the prime minister and the president in the country. In the first election that had been held, Lumumba’s party had won over Kaavubu’s party (Stephen nd) However, neither of the two parties could form a coalition. To solve the problem, the two formed a temporary partnership with Kasavubu as the president and Lumumba as the prime minister (Stephen nd) On September 5^th; there was yet another confusion with both the two parties claiming to be the constitutionally accepted central governments. In July, Belgium provided support to the country’s richest city, Katanga to declare itself independent. Katanga’s secession made the country to separate into four parts. During the breakup period, the then army Chief Joseph Mobutu took over the leadership of the country. The main threat to the caretaker government was posed by Lumumba. However, this threat was overpowered when Lumumba was captured was captured in 1960 (Stephen nd) Although the pioneers of secession were captured, it was until the violent shutdown between the UN forces and European trained military forces that led to the total collapse of the secession process, thus giving way for Mobutu to rule the country. This is evident that international intervention is important in the success of a coup. From the three case studies, it is evident that countries where the international intervention took place, there was a successful coup as was in Nigeria and Congo. On the other hand, a country such as Burundi where no country intervened, the coup was not successful.

Work Cited

Global security. 1983 Coup. Retrieved from: https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/nigeria2.htm

Janvier Nkurunziza. The origin and persistence of State fragility in Burundi. United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Retrieved from: https://www.theigc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Burundi-report-v2.pdf\

O’Kane, Rosemary HT. “Coups d’etat in Africa: A political economy approach.” Journal of Peace Research 30.3 (1993): 251-270.

Stephen Weissman. The CIA, the Murder of Lumumba, and the Rise of Mobutu. Retrieved from: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/democratic-republic-congo/2014-06-16/what-really-happened-congo