Don’t expect the men with guns to give up power in Africa

By Tom Gardner, Africa correspondent, The Economist

The covid pandemic accelerated a general turn away from free and fair elections in Africa. Several governments—most notably Ethiopia’s—took the virus as an excuse to delay, or otherwise tamper with, the electoral process. Most alarming, however, was the flurry of coups, starting with Mali in 2020, followed swiftly by Guinea, Sudan, Burkina Faso, Niger, Gabon and arguably Chad. By the end of 2023, a uninterrupted “coup belt” stretched from the Atlantic to the Red Sea.