The whirlwind of military takeovers across the African continent will not subside soon, with more countries expected to face uprisings, the Director of the Faculty of Academic Affairs & Research at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre, Prof. Kwesi Aning, has said.
This is due to the failure of the democratic leaders to address economic and other pertinent issues of the citizens.
Prof Aning passed these remarks in the wake of the latest military takeover in Gabon, bringing the number of coup d’etats on the African continent to seven since August 2020.
“When you have a youthful populace who are excluded from the positive fruits of democratic governance of economic growth [and] high unemployment, then you have the underpinnings of those who will support any form of change,” the security analyst argued.
He added: “If you listen to the narratives of extremist groups, those narratives are tapping into the unemployment, the lack of schools, the lack of training opportunities and are creating this hope that if we were to come, we will be able to satisfy your needs. We know they will not be able to satisfy those needs, but politics is about tapping into that veil of frustration and turning that frustration to create a support base. That is what the military has been very successful in doing in Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and now Gabon, and then two more countries are just in the queue to experience a similar thing”.
The latest in a series of military takeovers on the continent occurred on Tuesday, as the military toppled Ali Bongo Ondimba,
His family has ruled Gabon for over fifty years, and the soldiers took over shortly after election results were announced, saying President Ali Bongo had been re-elected despite opposition complaints of fraud.
This is the second coup within a month after soldiers took control in Niger.
The whereabouts of Ali Bongo, 64, is unclear, but reports suggest he has been placed under house arrest.
Meanwhile, the AU has “strongly” condemned “the coup.”
In a statement, AU Commission Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat said he was following the situation “with great concern”.
