One of the most important democratic developments in West Africa has been the near impossibility of sustaining a coup in the region over the past decade. When a coup was announced in Burkina Faso last Thursday, many of the headlines in Francophone newspapers described the act as the stupid coup. It was stupid because it was done by a small praetorian presidential guard, (Presidential Security Regiment); of 1300 men and not the army, which had been demanding for the dissolution of the guard in any case.
They army hates the guard because they are better equipped and paid than the regular army but this guard, established by Blaise Compaore to protect him from his army has a presence only in the capital and could not deploy nationally. It was stupid because as we saw with the case in Cote d’Iviore, the supply of currency could be switched to kill any Francophone regime that misbehaved. It was a stupid coup because it took place just three weeks away from general elections that would conclude the transitional process that followed the removal of Blaise Compaore who had been the dictator that reigned supreme in the country for 27 years. It was a stupid coup because its leader, General Gilbert Diendere carried out the coup on the day forensic evidence on Thomas Sankara’s remains were to be released, the first step in investigation his assassins and of course the coup leader, Diendere himself is the main suspect. If ever there was a coup against democracy, peace and the rule of law, it is that of Diendere.
Military high commands in African armed forces have imbibed republican ethos and are not willing to participate in coup d’états. The only recent coup in West Africa that involved the military high command was that of Mohammed Abdel Aziz who seized power in Mauritania in 2008 and kept the power after organising elections. When Dadis Camara tried it in Guinea in the same year, he was shot and carried out of the country. It was an individual act of stupidity. In Niger, Tandja Mamadou as President carried out a coup d’état after his mandate expired and he refused to organise elections for the next president. The military high command removed him from power, organised elections and went back to the barracks. The coups in Mali and Guinea Bissau in 2012 were not sustainable and ECOWAS was able to convince the coup leaders to step down. There is a strong consensus in the region that the era of military rule is over and the ballot box, not bullets is the route to power.
That was the reason that led to immediate intervention within the country and outside to stop the stupid coup in Burkina Faso. Mass demonstrations were organised all over the country and the international community mobilised to put a stop to the coup. Indeed what is painful about the coup in Burkina Faso was the bravery and determination of the Burkinabé people to kick out Blaise Compaoré from power at serious risks to their own lives. Over one million people marched on the same soldiers organizing the coup today and forced them to flee from the might of people’s power in spite of their sophisticated arms.
The choice they were given was to massacre all the people or allow for a transition. It was in that context that their boss fled the country and the regime collapsed. Col Isaac Zida, a strong man of Compaore’s presidential guard and the transitional Prime Minister took the initiative to ensure that the transitional was relatively peaceful. To carry the presidential guard along, the transitional President, Mr. Karfondo appointed Zida as prime minister. The guard however had been bitter about the appointment and on three occasions before the coup, had mutinied and demanded for his removal.
They are bitter that he did not allow them massacre the people. Clearly, many of them were not aware that the responsibility to protect means you cannot massacre and get away with it in today’s political environment. In February 2015, the transition almost collapsed when the praetorian presidential guard burst into a cabinet meeting demanding that Colonel Zida be removed from power for not insisting that the privileges of the guard be maintained and protected. Their key demand is that plans to disband and incorporate them into the national army must be abandoned. The plan was actually pushed forward with the decision that the President emanating from the October 11th election should take the responsibility of deciding what to do with these spoilt, over pampared soldiers with a lot of arms.
According to the coup leader, marginalization of politicians from the electoral process was the reason for their intervention. He was referring to the decision by the transitional authorities that former members of the Compaoré regime and political parties who supported the former president’s attempt at tenure elongation were prevented from contesting in the elections. They went to the regional ECOWAS Court of Justice, which ruled that it was unacceptable to ban a whole group.
The transitional authorities then ruled that not everyone from the said parties would be banned only those who played prominent roles. Accordingly, 40 candidates were excluded from the elections for their role in promoting anti-constitutional change of government and tenure elongation. At the same time, Blaise Compaoré himself was charged with treasonable felony over his bid to change the constitution and charges were brought against his accomplices for assault, murder and embezzlement. The purpose of the coup was therefore to protect the ancien regime and bring them back to power.
Following intervention by ECOWAS, the African Union and the United Nations, a delegation led by Presidents Macky Sall of Senegal and Boni Yayi of Benin met with stakeholders over the weekend and were about to announce the end of the coup, return of the transitional government and the disbanding of the presidential guard yesterday (Sunday) morning when a group of thugs apparently sponsored by the putschists attacked stakeholders and the diplomatic corps at the Laico Hotel. Following rumours that the thugs had kidnapped the American and French ambassadors, there was a lot of agitation before the ambassadors and President Sall were finally able to leave the hotel. As of the time of writing this column, the press conference had still not taken place. Whatever is announced however, the coup cannot hold as civil society and trade unions all over Burkina Faso is fully mobilised and demonstrations have continued in spite of the killing of about a dozen people by the putschists. The era of the coup d’état is over in Africa. We must continue to consolidate and deepen our democracy.
This article was originally published on Daily Trust.