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 
+DateCountryEventHead of state or governmentCoup leader(s)Outcome1963 Dahomeyan coup d'étatChristophe SogloHubert MagaCoup successful1963 Togolese coup d'étatSylvanus OlympioCoup successful1963 Nigerian coup d'état attemptHamani DioriHassan A. DialloCoup failure1966 Upper Voltan coup d'étatMaurice YaméogoSangoulé LamizanaCoup successful1966 Nigerian coup d'étatNnamdi AzikiweChukwuma Kaduna NzeogwuCoup failure1966 Ghanaian coup d'étatKwame NkrumahEmmanuel Kwasi KotokaCoup successful1966 Nigerian counter-coupJohnson Aguiyi-IronsiYakubu GowonCoup successfulFirst 1967 Sierra Leone coup d'étatSiaka StevensDavid LansanaCoup successfulSecond 1967 Sierra Leone coup d'étatDavid LansanaAndrew Juxon-SmithCoup successful1968 Malian coup d'étatModibo KeïtaMoussa TraoréCoup successful1974 Nigerien coup d'étatHamani DioriSeyni KountchéCoup successful1980 Upper Volta coup d'étatSangoulé LamizanaSaye ZerboCoup successful1982 Upper Voltan coup d'étatSay ZerboJean-Baptiste OuédraogoCoup successful1983 Upper Voltan coup d'état attemptJean-Baptiste OuédraogoSaye ZerboCoup failure1983 Upper Voltan coup d'étatJean-Baptiste OuédraogoThomas SankaraCoup successful1984 Guinean coup d'étatLouis Lansana BeavoguiLansana ContéCoup successful1987 Sierra Leonean coup d'état attemptJoseph Saidu MomohFrancis MinahCoup failure1987 Burkina Faso coup d'étatThomas SankaraBlaise CompaoréCoup successful1990 Chadian coup d'étatHissène HabréIdriss DébyCoup successful1991 Malian coup d'étatMoussa TraoréAmadou Toumani TouréCoup successful1992 Sierra Leonean coup d'étatJoseph Saidu MomohValentine StrasserCoup successful1996 Nigerien coup d'étatMahamane OusmaneIbrahim Baré MaïnassaraCoup successful1999 Nigerien coup d'étatIbrahim Baré MaïnassaraDaouda Malam WankéCoup successful2003 Burkina Faso coup d'état attemptBlaise CompaoréCoup failure2005 Togolese coup d'étatFambaré Ouattara NatchabaCoup successful2008 Guinean coup d'étatAboubacar SomparéMoussa Dadis CamaraCoup successful2010 Nigerien coup d'étatMamadou TandjaSalou DjiboCoup successful2011 Nigerien coup d'état attemptMahamadou IssoufouCoup failure2012 Malian coup d'étatAmadou Toumani TouréAmadou SanogoCoup successful2014 Burkina Faso uprisingBlaise CompaoréUprising successful2015 Burkina Faso coup d'état attemptMichel KafandoGilbert DiendéréCoup failure2019 Sudanese coup d'étatOmar al-BashirCoup successful2020 Malian coup d'étatIbrahim Boubacar KeïtaCoup successful2021 Nigerien coup d'état attemptMohamed BazoumSani Saley GourouzaCoup failureDeath of Idriss DébyIdriss DébyMahamat DébyRegarded as a coup by regional opposition2021 Malian coup d'étatBah NdawAssimi GoïtaCoup successful2021 Guinean coup d'étatAlpha CondéMamady DoumbouyaCoup successful2021 Sudan coup d'étatAbdalla HamdokCoup successfulJanuary 2022 Burkina Faso coup d'étatRoch Marc Christian KaboréPaul-Henri Sandaogo DamibaCoup successfulSeptember 2022 Burkina Faso coup d'étatPaul-Henri Sandaogo DamibaIbrahim TraoréCoup successful2023 Sudan conflictAbdel Fattah al-BurhanHemedtiInconclusive; led to civil conflict2023 Nigerien coup d'étatMohamed BazoumCoup successful2023 Sierra Leone coup attemptJulius Maada BioCoup failure2023 Gabonese coup d'étatAli Bongo OndimbaBrice OliguiCoup successful

 References 

Category:21st century in politics
Category:Africa
Category:2020s neologisms