DAKAR (Reuters) – An tried coup was believed to be underway in Guinea-Bissau on Tuesday. The identification of the assailants and the standing of President Umaro Sissoco Embalo weren’t instantly clear.
This would mark the fifth navy coup in the previous yr in West and Central Africa, a area as soon as generally known as the continent’s “coup belt”.
Here is an inventory of different latest coups.
MALI
A bunch of Malian colonels first seized energy in August 2020 by ousting President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita. The coup adopted anti-government protests over deteriorating safety, contested legislative elections and allegations of corruption.
Under strain from Mali’s West African neighbours, the junta agreed to cede energy to a civilian-led interim authorities tasked with overseeing an 18-month transition to democratic elections in February 2022.
But the coup leaders rapidly clashed with the brand new interim president, retired colonel Bah Ndaw, and engineered a second coup in May 2021. Colonel Assimi Goita, who had served as interim vice chairman, was elevated to the presidency.
Goita’s authorities made little progress towards organising elections and introduced that it supposed to delay them by as much as 5 years. West African regional bloc ECOWAS responded this month with sanctions, together with closing its members’ borders with Mali.
CHAD
Chad’s military took energy in April 2021 after President Idriss Deby was killed whereas visiting Chadian troops preventing rebels in the north.
Under Chadian regulation, the speaker of parliament ought to have turn into president. But a navy council stepped in and dissolved parliament in the title of guaranteeing stability.
Deby’s son, General Mahamat Idriss Deby, was named interim president and tasked with overseeing an 18-month transition to elections.
GUINEA
Special forces commander Colonel Mamady Doumbouya led a coup in September 2021 towards President Alpha Conde, saying he acted due to poverty and corruption.
Conde had outraged opponents the earlier yr by altering the structure to bypass time period limits that might have prevented him from standing for a 3rd interval. He gained a 3rd time period in the October 2020 vote.
Doumbouya turned interim president and promised a transition to democratic elections however has not stated when these will happen.
ECOWAS has imposed sanctions on junta members and their family members, together with by freezing their financial institution accounts.
BURKINA FASO
The navy ousted President Roch Kabore final week, blaming him for failing to comprise violence by Islamist militants. The coup chief, Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Damiba, stated afterward that Burkina Faso would return to constitutional order “when the circumstances are proper”.
ECOWAS and the African Union suspended Burkina Faso from their governing our bodies however stopped in need of imposing extra sanctions for now.
An ECOWAS delegation met on Monday with Damiba to debate a political transition and with Kabore, who’s underneath navy guard.
(Reporting by Aaron Ross; Editing by Bate Felix, Andrew Cawthorne and Angus MacSwan)
