The coup in Burkina Faso

DEMOCRACY in Africa witnessed another setback recently with the overthrow by soldiers of the constitutionally elected government of Burkina Faso. Young military officers led by Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, a former member of the presidential guard of deposed President Blaise Compaoré, removed President Roch Kaboré earlier in the week, making it the fourth coup in West and Central Africa and the fifth military takeover in total on the African continent in the last 17 months. Prior to this latest incident in Burkina Faso, there had been military putsches in Chad, Mali, Guinea and Sudan, bringing democracy to an abrupt end. The army seized power with little or no opposition and the masses rejoiced for the most part, heightening fears across the globe that democracy might once again be under threat in Africa.

The Burkina Faso episode was particularly befuddling. The army’s detention of President Kabore after two days of unrest sparked some celebration on the streets of Ouagadougou and other major cities. The mutineers projecting a populist profile called themselves the Patriotic Movement for Safeguarding and Restoration and their leader, Damiba, made a statewide broadcast last Monday, declaring that they had seized control of power. The coup came amid an escalating armed conflict that has culminated in the death of thousands and displacement of millions across the Sahel region of the African continent.

A number of factors and realities from 2015 may have triggered the coup. The immediate cause was probably the growing discontent among security forces over President Kabore’s alleged failure to provide adequate support for the military against militants linked to both al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. These two armed groups have been quite menacing in Burkina Faso and Mali for some time. A day before the coup, there had been mutinies in some military camps in Ouagadougou and northern cities of Kaya and Ouahigouya. These mutinies followed months of anti-government protests demanding the president’s resignation.

The unrests were described as reactions to the vulnerabilities to Islamic militants to which the military had been subjected and for which the government had perceivably rendered little. Going by a United Nations report, militant attacks from 2015 had claimed more than 2,000 lives and had displaced 1.5 million people from their homes. Many schools were forced to close down, culminating in educational instability in the country. Confidence in the government’s capacity to manage the situation reached an all-time low with the attack by militants in the northern village of Solhan in June 2021, in which more than 100 people were killed. This incident had prompted opposition protests in the capital, forcing Kaboré to reshuffle his government and appoint himself as defence minister.Another attack on the northern Inata military base in November 2021 heightened anger towards the government. On this occasion, no fewer than 50 members of the security forces died. In the recent takeover by the armed forces, they arrested and incarcerated the president, announced the dissolution of the democratic government and national assembly, suspended the constitution and imposed a curfew. The group tried to assure the local and international public that the president was safe and that those under arrest were being treated with dignity.

We wish to state categorically that no amount of dignified way of presenting itself or its intentions can make the military coup in Burkina Faso or elsewhere look better than what it is: a rape on democracy, the people and society. No matter the provocation or good intents, removing a democratically elected government of a country is a disservice to the nation and runs contrary to the letter and spirit of the military. Soldiers are trained, and the armed forces are created, to defend the constitution, which is epitomised by democratic leadership.  We condemn in unequivocal terms the military coup in Burkina Faso. With the benefit of hindsight and the horrific experience across the Global South, democracy cannot be an option. However, we urge democratic leadership too to give people that elected them the dividends of democracy. That way, any coup plotter would have the people to contend with. The sights and sounds from Burkina Faso, in which people trooped into the streets of Ouagadougou rejoicing, were unpleasant and unfortunate. Thus, politicians need to step up their game— fight corruption, tackle poverty and unemployment and work assiduously to nip insecurity in the bud.

The military, on its part, should shun its inordinate ambition and support democratic government, giving the politicians opportunities to learn from and correct their errors in governance. Furthermore, ECOWAS and the African Union are strongly urged to mediate in the crisis and resolve things amicably and immediately. These bodies should not make a blanket condemnation but touch on the core issues employed as excuses to topple democratic leadership. These include security of life and property, good governance and tackling Islamic militancy.