Coup Belt

The **Coup Belt** is a term used to talk about a part of West Africa and the Sahel, where there are a lot of coups (where a group of people take over a government by force) happening. This term became popular recently because there were many coups in the early 2020s. Some examples include coups in Mali, Guinea, Chad, Sudan, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Gabon. After a coup in Niger in 2023, these countries formed a line across Africa from the east coast to the west coast.

## Where it started

Since 1990, most of the coups in sub-Saharan Africa happened in countries that used to be ruled by France. Some people think that French influence might be causing instability in Africa.

The military leaders in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger stopped letting French troops operate in their countries. They also stopped using French as an official language.

There was supposed to be French troops in Niger after they left Mali and Burkina Faso. But because of a crisis in Niger and problems with France, this didn't happen.

A group called ECOWAS tried to change the bad image of this region, but they couldn't. They suspended Mali and Guinea after coups happened in those countries.

The coups in these countries are often similar. They usually happen because the military is unhappy with how the government is dealing with problems like protests or Islamic groups. The new leaders also don't have good relationships with Western countries. Instead, they look for support from Russia, Turkey, or other places.

## Summary of coups d'état in West Africa and the Sahel region

|Date|Country|Event|Head of state or government|Coup leader(s)|Outcome|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|||1963 Dahomeyan coup d'état|Christophe Soglo|Hubert Maga|Coup successful|
|||1963 Togolese coup d'état|Sylvanus Olympio||Coup successful|
|||1963 Nigerian coup d'état attempt|Hamani Diori|Hassan A. Diallo|Coup failure|
|||1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état|Maurice Yaméogo|Sangoulé Lamizana|Coup successful|
|||1966 Nigerian coup d'état|Nnamdi Azikiwe|Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu|Coup failure|
|||1966 Ghanaian coup d'état|Kwame Nkrumah|Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka|Coup successful|
|||1966 Nigerian counter-coup|Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi|Yakubu Gowon|Coup successful|
|||First 1967 Sierra Leone coup d'état|Siaka Stevens|David Lansana|Coup successful|
|||Second 1967 Sierra Leone coup d'état|David Lansana|Andrew Juxon-Smith|Coup successful|
|||1968 Malian coup d'état|Modibo Keïta|Moussa Traoré|Coup successful|
|||1974 Nigerien coup d'état|Hamani Diori|Seyni Kountché|Coup successful|
|||1980 Upper Volta coup d'état|Sangoulé Lamizana|Saye Zerbo|Coup successful|
|||1982 Upper Voltan coup d'état|Say Zerbo|Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo|Coup successful|
|||1983 Upper Voltan coup d'état attempt|Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo|Saye Zerbo|Coup failure|
|||1983 Upper Voltan coup d'état|Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo|Thomas Sankara|Coup successful|
|||1984 Guinean coup d'état|Louis Lansana Beavogui|Lansana Conté|Coup successful|
|||1987 Sierra Leonean coup d'état attempt|Joseph Saidu Momoh|Francis Minah|Coup failure|
|||1987 Burkina Faso coup d'état|Thomas Sankara|Blaise Compaoré|Coup successful|
|||1990 Chadian coup d'état|Hissène Habré|Idriss Déby|Coup successful|
|||1991 Malian coup d'état|Moussa Traoré|Amadou Toumani Touré|Coup successful|
|||1992 Sierra Leonean coup d'état|Joseph Saidu Momoh|Valentine Strasser|Coup successful|
|||1996 Nigerien coup d'état|Mahamane Ousmane|Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara|Coup successful|
|||1999 Nigerien coup d'état|Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara|Daouda Malam Wanké|Coup successful|
|||2003 Burkina Faso coup d'état attempt|Blaise Compaoré||Coup failure|
|||2005 Togolese coup d'état|Fambaré Ouattara Natchaba||Coup successful|
|||2008 Guinean coup d'état|Aboubacar Somparé|Moussa Dadis Camara|Coup successful|
|||2010 Nigerien coup d'état|Mamadou Tandja|Salou Djibo|Coup successful|
|||2011 Nigerien coup d'état attempt|Mahamadou Issoufou||Coup failure|
|||2012 Malian coup d'état|Amadou Toumani Touré|Amadou Sanogo|Coup successful|
|||2014 Burkina Faso uprising|Blaise Compaoré||Uprising successful|
|||2015 Burkina Faso coup d'état attempt|Michel Kafando|Gilbert Diendéré|Coup failure|
|||2019 Sudanese coup d'état|Omar al-Bashir||Coup successful|
|||2020 Malian coup d'état|Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta||Coup successful|
|||2021 Nigerien coup d'état attempt|Mohamed Bazoum|Sani Saley Gourouza|Coup failure|
|||Death of Idriss Déby|Idriss Déby|Mahamat Déby|Regarded as a coup by regional opposition|
|||2021 Malian coup d'état|Bah Ndaw|Assimi Goïta|Coup successful|
|||2021 Guinean coup d'état|Alpha Condé|Mamady Doumbouya|Coup successful|
|||2021 Sudan coup d'état|Abdalla Hamdok||Coup successful|
|||January 2022 Burkina Faso coup d'état|Roch Marc Christian Kaboré|Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba|Coup successful|
|||September 2022 Burkina Faso coup d'état|Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba|Ibrahim Traoré|Coup successful|
|||2023 Sudan conflict|Abdel Fattah al-Burhan|Hemedti|Inconclusive; led to civil conflict|
|||2023 Nigerien coup d'état|Mohamed Bazoum||Coup successful|
|||2023 Sierra Leone coup attempt|Julius Maada Bio||Coup failure|
|||2023 Gabonese coup d'état|Ali Bongo Ondimba|Brice Oligui|Coup successful|

## Infobox (settlement)

- **name**: Coup Belt
- **settlement type**: Geopolitical region of Africa
- **image map**: File:Coup belt.svg
- **map caption**: African countries that have had successful coups between 2020 and 2023
- **subdivision type**: Countries
- **subdivision type1**: Subregion
- **subdivision type2**: Subregion
- **subdivision type4**: Continent
- **subdivision name4**: Africa
- **subdivision type5**: Countries
- **subdivision name5**: Sahel and West Africa, mainly: