By Coletta Wanjohi
Africa has been grappling with a concerning trend of unconstitutional government changes, and the recent conflict between the Sudanese military and the Rapid Response Forces (RSF) in Sudan is only adding to the pressure.
The country has been under military rule since 2019, when the then president Omar al Bashir was toppled.
Sudanese leaders signed a power-sharing deal on Dec 5, 2022, for a constitutional arrangement and elections in 2024.
However, a disagreement arose between the army and the RSF over security reform, particularly the integration of the RSF into the military. This has been a key issue in negotiations for a transition to civilian, democratic rule in Sudan.
Desire Asogbavi, an international relations expert, told TRT Afrika: “The failure to address the essential socio-economic requirements of Africa's expanding and youthful population is the cause of the problem in countries like Sudan, Mali, and Guinea”.
“Some former colonial powers and their multinational corporations have been hindering African countries' political and economic advancement, which today's knowledgeable and well-connected young people in Africa will no longer tolerate,” he said.
An African Union official, Fred Ngoga Gateretse, explained at a meeting organised by the Institute for Security Studies in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in February, that creating responsive governments that can cater for the needs of their people “is the primary hurdle of our generation”.
Efforts to prevent unconstitutional changes
The African Union, an organisation of 55 African states, only recognises civilian rule.
Three other African countries are under military rule following unconstitutional government changes.
In 2021 the military took over power in Mali and Guinea. Burkina Faso experienced two coups in 2022, one in January and another in September.
Chad is also under military rule since its veteran leader Idriss Deby Itno died during a visit to frontline where his troops were fighting against rebels in 2021. His son Mahamat - an army General - succeeded him immediately and elections have been delayed in the country.
And there were reports of failed coup attempts in 2022 in Guinea Bissau, The Gambia and the island nation of Sao Tome and Principe.
All countries where coups took place, including Sudan, have been suspended from the African Union activities until they return to democratic rule. They were not invited to participate in the African Union Summit held on the 18th and 19th of February in Ethiopia.
And the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, also imposed a travel ban on government members and senior officials in Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea.
“We are looking at targeted sanctions, especially those who are actors of those unconstitutional changes of governments so that the populations do not suffer,” Moussa Faki Mahammat, the chairperson of the African Union Commission, said during the AU summit.
Some harsh sanctions lifted from the West African countries have included neighbouring countries closing their borders with coup-affected states, suspending commercial transactions and financial transactions with them and freezing the country’s assets in the West African regional central and commercial banks.
But Dr. Andrews Atta-Asamoah, head of the African Peace and Security Governance Programme at the Institute of Security Studies, argues that the suspension framework lacks action against countries without civilian rule.
“African Union kind of struggles to get them to the response that needs to be done towards the restoration of normalcy,” he said.
Desire Asogbavi, an international relations expert, explained to TRT Afrika that the failure to address the essential socio-economic requirements of Africa's expanding and youthful population is the cause of the problem in countries like Sudan, Mali, and Guinea.
According to Asogbavi, some former colonial powers and their multinational corporations have been hindering African countries' political and economic advancement, which today's knowledgeable and well-connected young people in Africa will no longer tolerate.
The military juntas in Burkina Faso, Mali and Chad have since promised to have elections in their countries in 2024 to enable transition power to civilian governments.
"Such conflicts have ripple effects," Dr Edgar Githua , an international relations expert, told TRT Afrika.
"They open up humanitarian crises , refugees are forced to flee to neighbouring countries and with time that also has safety implications for host countries."
