Coup Belt

Coup Belt
Coup Belt
Geopolitical region of Africa
	African countries that have had successful coups between 2020 and 2023
Continent	Africa
Countries	Sahel and West Africa, mainly:; Burkina Faso; Chad; Gabon; Guinea; Mali; Niger; Sudan;

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 happening. A coup is when a group of people take over a government by force. 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.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4] 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[change | change source]

The number of successful coups d'état in postcolonial Africa (As of 1 August 2023).^[5] A successful coup occured in Gabon on 30 August 2023.

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.^[6]^[7]^[8]

Summary of coups d'état in West Africa and the Sahel region[change | change source]


Date	Country	Event	Head of state or government	Coup leader(s)	Outcome
13 January 1963	Dahomey	1963 Dahomeyan coup d'état	Christophe Soglo	Hubert Maga	Coup successful
28 October 1963	Togo	1963 Togolese coup d'état	Sylvanus Olympio	Emmanuel Bodjollé Étienne Eyadéma Kléber Dadjo Nicolas Grunitzky	Coup successful
3 December 1963	Niger	1963 Nigerian coup d'état attempt	Hamani Diori	Hassan A. Diallo	Coup failure
3 January 1966	Upper Volta	1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état	Maurice Yaméogo	Sangoulé Lamizana	Coup successful
16 January 1966	Nigeria	1966 Nigerian coup d'état	Nnamdi Azikiwe	Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu	Coup failure
24 February 1966	Ghana	1966 Ghanaian coup d'état	Kwame Nkrumah	Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka	Coup successful
28 July 1966	Nigeria	1966 Nigerian counter-coup	Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi	Yakubu Gowon	Coup successful
21 March 1967	Sierra Leone	First 1967 Sierra Leone coup d'état	Siaka Stevens	David Lansana	Coup successful
23 March 1967	Sierra Leone	Second 1967 Sierra Leone coup d'état	David Lansana	Andrew Juxon-Smith	Coup successful
18 November 1968	Mali	1968 Malian coup d'état	Modibo Keïta	Moussa Traoré	Coup successful
15 April 1974	Niger	1974 Nigerien coup d'état	Hamani Diori	Seyni Kountché	Coup successful
25 November 1980	Upper Volta	1980 Upper Volta coup d'état	Sangoulé Lamizana	Saye Zerbo	Coup successful
7 November 1982	Upper Volta	1982 Upper Voltan coup d'état	Say Zerbo	Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo	Coup successful
28 February 1983	Upper Volta	1983 Upper Voltan coup d'état attempt	Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo	Saye Zerbo	Coup failure
4 August 1983	Upper Volta	1983 Upper Voltan coup d'état	Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo	Thomas Sankara	Coup successful
3 April 1984	Guinea	1984 Guinean coup d'état	Louis Lansana Beavogui	Lansana Conté	Coup successful
23 March 1987	Sierra Leone	1987 Sierra Leonean coup d'état attempt	Joseph Saidu Momoh	Francis Minah	Coup failure
15 October 1987	Burkina Faso	1987 Burkina Faso coup d'état	Thomas Sankara	Blaise Compaoré	Coup successful
3 December 1990	Chad	1990 Chadian coup d'état	Hissène Habré	Idriss Déby	Coup successful
26 March 1991	Mali	1991 Malian coup d'état	Moussa Traoré	Amadou Toumani Touré	Coup successful
29 April 1992	Sierra Leone	1992 Sierra Leonean coup d'état	Joseph Saidu Momoh	Valentine Strasser	Coup successful
27 January 1996	Niger	1996 Nigerien coup d'état	Mahamane Ousmane	Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara	Coup successful
9 April 1999	Niger	1999 Nigerien coup d'état	Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara	Daouda Malam Wanké	Coup successful
7 October 2003	Burkina Faso	2003 Burkina Faso coup d'état attempt	Blaise Compaoré		Coup failure
5 February 2005	Togo	2005 Togolese coup d'état	Fambaré Ouattara Natchaba	Faure Gnassingbé Zakari Nandja	Coup successful
23 December 2008	Guinea	2008 Guinean coup d'état	Aboubacar Somparé	Moussa Dadis Camara	Coup successful
18 February 2010	Niger	2010 Nigerien coup d'état	Mamadou Tandja	Salou Djibo	Coup successful
16 July 2011	Niger	2011 Nigerien coup d'état attempt	Mahamadou Issoufou		Coup failure
21 March 2012	Mali	2012 Malian coup d'état	Amadou Toumani Touré	Amadou Sanogo	Coup successful
3 November 2014	Burkina Faso	2014 Burkina Faso uprising	Blaise Compaoré	Honoré Traoré Yacouba Isaac Zida	Uprising successful
16 September 2015	Burkina Faso	2015 Burkina Faso coup d'état attempt	Michel Kafando	Gilbert Diendéré	Coup failure
11 April 2019	Sudan	2019 Sudanese coup d'état	Omar al-Bashir	Ahmed Awad Ibn Auf Abdel Fattah al-Burhan	Coup successful
18 August 2020	Mali	2020 Malian coup d'état	Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta	Assimi Goïta Malick Diaw Ismaël Wagué Sadio Camara Bah Ndaw	Coup successful
31 March 2021	Niger	2021 Nigerien coup d'état attempt	Mohamed Bazoum	Sani Saley Gourouza	Coup failure
20 April 2021	Chad	Death of Idriss Déby	Idriss Déby	Mahamat Déby	Regarded as a coup by regional opposition
24 May 2021	Mali	2021 Malian coup d'état	Bah Ndaw	Assimi Goïta	Coup successful
5 September 2021	Guinea	2021 Guinean coup d'état	Alpha Condé	Mamady Doumbouya	Coup successful
25 October 2021	Sudan	2021 Sudan coup d'état	Abdalla Hamdok	Abdel Fattah al-Burhan Hemedti	Coup successful
23 January 2022	Burkina Faso	January 2022 Burkina Faso coup d'état	Roch Marc Christian Kaboré	Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba	Coup successful
30 September 2022	Burkina Faso	September 2022 Burkina Faso coup d'état	Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba	Ibrahim Traoré	Coup successful
15 April 2023	Sudan	2023 Sudan conflict	Abdel Fattah al-Burhan	Hemedti	Inconclusive; led to civil conflict
26 July 2023	Niger	2023 Nigerien coup d'état	Mohamed Bazoum	Abdourahamane Tchiani Amadou Abdramane Salifou Modi Abdou Sidikou Issa Moussa Salaou Barmou	Coup successful
1 August 2023	Sierra Leone	2023 Sierra Leone coup attempt	Julius Maada Bio		Coup failure
30 August 2023	Gabon	2023 Gabonese coup d'état	Ali Bongo Ondimba	Brice Oligui	Coup successful