What’s Driving the Coups in Gabon and Across West Africa?

When Gabon’s army seized power in August, it brought to nine the number of military coups across sub-Saharan African since 2020. International sanctions have been imposed to try to nudge these countries back to democracy, with little success. Some of the governments that were overthrown had been cooperating with France and the US in fighting militant Islamist groups across the Sahel region. French President Emmanuel Macron has warned that “all the presidents across the region are more or less aware of the fate that awaits them” unless democracy is restored.

General Abdourahamane Tiani named himself leader on July 28 after his soldiers detained President Mohamed Bazoum. The coup there created a belt of military-run countries stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea, most of them more closely aligned to Russia than to the West. The 15-nation Economic Community of West African States threatened to use force to restore the democratically elected leader, but hasn’t followed through. Niger, a former French colony, has been a linchpin in the fight against the spread of Islamist militancy. The US has a military drone base in the country which it used to target insurgents affiliated with al-Qaeda and Islamic State in cooperation with the French military. On Sept. 24, Macron bowed to the demands of the new junta and said his country’s ambassador and roughly 1,500 troops would leave Niger by the end of the year.