West Africa is grappling with a wave of military coups over the past 18 months that has some wondering which country could be next. Mutinous soldiers had overthrown the presidents of Mali and Guinea when a coup took place last month in Burkina Faso.
The new spike in power grabs comes as the Sahel, the vast region south of the Sahara Desert, faces growing violence from Islamic extremists, which in turn has caused people to turn against elected governments in both Mali and Burkina Faso. Neighboring Niger, hard-hit by Islamic insurgents, has also been vulnerable: Security forces stopped a coup attempt there last year.
And there’s often widespread support for the government overthrows within the countries because people hope it will bring about new elections, she added. Governance and rule of law institutions are weak in many countries in the region, says Corinne Dufka, West Africa director for Human Rights Watch. Ghana’s President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the current ECOWAS chairman, called Thursday on his fellow leaders to address the problem of coups “collectively and decisively before it devastates the whole region.
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