The series of military putschs on the black continent has just been enriched by two new episodes in less than a month.
On November 25, the Prime Minister of Sao Tome and Principe announced that his army had succeeded in thwarting an attempted coup. Two trademark sponsors arrested: the outgoing President of the National Assembly and another opponent.
The string of questions about the episode of Sao Tome had not finished being enumerated that Gambia, too, announced that it had suffered the domino effect of the phenomenon in fashion in West Africa for some time already.
The spokesman for the Gambian government announced that an attempted coup was foiled on Tuesday 20 December and four soldiers arrested, who allegedly plotted to overthrow the democratically elected government of President Adama Barrow. Accomplices would still be wanted.
So, two attempts to seize power by force complete the picture already well occupied by the military putschs of Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso. And so much for the ballot boxes. Questions: What is happening to Africa between attempts at coups d’état, successful coups d’etat and false coups d’état to eliminate opponents in the army and in the opposition? Curses? Fatality? Or to stay in the current vocabulary, paradigm shift with the deliberate desire to turn our backs on the democratic model in which some of those who govern us feel like they are in a straitjacket?
In any case, it is very fresh, and still in the kitchen of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the idea of setting up an anti-war forceterrorist and anti-coup that should serve to nip in the bud future machinations of putschist apprentices.
It must be said, in spite of all that we think about it, coups d’état are not a panacea against evil governance which, unfortunately, has become the sport best practised by many African leaders. For the radical, sometimes bloody, parenthesis of the constitutional order imposes a definite setback on any country that lives it. Every time, you have to go back to square one… to start almost from scratch! As much as the military putschs, the constitutional coups d’état, that is, the «3rd term» and life presidency, are to be deplored, as we have always denounced, at a time when Ivory Coast of Alassane Ouattara and Guinea of Alpha Condé were confronted with them.
Certainly the formula proposed by ECOWAS is far from perfect because, in addition to the defect of the nerve of war, money, it calls for more questions than answers. Can an external force intervene in a country to neutralize putschists or, at the very least, try to bring them to their senses, manu militari? In the best case, it will face a group of local soldiers, who will sell their skin dearly, and in the worst case to a determined civilian population, in the case of the so-called popular putschs. Yet, the subregional organization is more about being a ECOWAS of the peoples! Dilemma!
All this indicates that if the problem of putschs is real, it is still necessary to look for the right solution. The root of evil, as well as the reasons for anger, is found in the poor quality of governance of our leaders. There was a time when, if it did not please, people made the «sacrifice» to endure it. But, with an increasing number of young people, which is more, wants to be globalized and uninhibited, the tribulations imposed on their parents, the young ones, do not accept them anymore!
African populations may not really turn their backs on democracy. Perhaps it is the quest for better governance that makes so much wander on the risky paths of military coups. And as there will be no intervention of some deus ex machina to find the right solution, it is up to all, rulers as well as governed, to tackle it!
Source : Wakat Séra