Coup Belt

The Coup Belt (French: la ceinture de coups d'État)^[1] is a modern geopolitical concept and neologism which emerged during the 2020s to describe the region of West Africa, Central Africa and the Sahel that is home to countries with a high prevalence of coups d'état.^[2][3][4][5] Following the 2023 Nigerien coup, these countries form a continuous chain stretching between the east and west coasts of Africa.^[6]

Coup Belt
Geopolitical concept
African countries that have had successful coups between 2020 and 2023
Continent	Africa
Subregion	Sahel, West Africa and Central Africa
Countries	Burkina Faso Chad Gabon[a] Guinea Mali Niger Sudan

The coups have largely been similar in nature; most came from dissatisfied militaries who criticised their respective government's handling of Islamic insurgents or protests since 2003.^[6] Resentment over French military, financial and political influence over African governments has also played a role.^[7] The incoming juntas tend to have worse relations with the West, with many seeking support from either Russia and the Wagner Group or Turkey instead of France, which previously helped the countries fight against Islamic insurgents through Operation Barkhane. This led Ukraine to fund opposition groups which in turn has caused a proxy war between Russia and Ukraine in Africa.^[8][9]

Origin

The number of successful coups d'état in postcolonial Africa (as of 28 September 2023).^[10]

Human Development Index (HDI) of African countries, with the Coup Belt outlined in red (Gabon is sometimes included following the 2023 coup). Every country in the Coup Belt, except Gabon, has an HDI below 0.500, indicating low human development.

Although likely older,^[11][12] the term became popular in the 2020s after a string of coups in the early part of the decade, including in Mali in 2020 and 2021,^[13] Chad,^[6] Guinea,^[14] and Sudan^[15] in 2021, two in Burkina Faso in January and September 2022,^[16][17] and in Niger and Gabon in 2023.^[18][19] The region also saw attempted coups in Niger and Sudan in 2021, Guinea–Bissau and The Gambia in 2022, and Sudan, Sierra Leone and Burkina Faso in 2023.

History

Since 1990, 21 of the 27 coups in sub-Saharan Africa have taken place in former French colonies. This has led some to question whether French influence in Africa has a destabilising impact.^[20]

The military juntas of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger cancelled military agreements that allowed French troops to operate on their territory, and removed French as an official language.^{[21][22][23][24]}

ECOWAS has tried to actively work on changing the label associated with the region, although unsuccessful. The regional bloc suspended Mali after its coup in 2021,^[25] and also suspended Guinea on 8 September 2021, shortly after a military coup took place in the country.^[26][27] The three members of the Alliance of Sahel States were suspended before ultimately withdrawing from ECOWAS in 2023.

Considering only the subregion of West Africa, the 2020 coup d'état in Mali occurred after a period of nearly six years, since the 2014 Burkina Faso uprising and the ousting of Burkina Faso’s President Blaise Compaoré, during which there was not a single undemocratic change of government in West Africa.^[28] For this subregion where many countries have a history of civil war and violent conflict, this was a period of remarkable stability during which ECOWAS even managed to find a peaceful resolution to the 2016–2017 Gambian constitutional crisis.

The 2023 Gabonese coup d'état was somewhat different, as Gabon was ruled for 56 years by the Bongo family before the coup, is not near or part of the Sahel, and did not suffer from Islamist or separatist insurgencies. The Gabonese military coup occurred in the context of widespread protests over the conduct of the 2023 Gabonese general election. It led to the establishment of a presidential republic under a military junta.^[29]

List of coups d'état in the Coup Belt

See also: List of coups and coup attempts since 2010 § Africa

Date	Country	Event	Head of state or government	Coup leader(s)	Outcome
June 1957	Sudan	1957 Sudanese coup attempt	Abdallah Khalil	Abdel Rahman Ismail Kabeida	Coup failure
17 November 1959		1959 Sudanese coup attempt	Ibrahim Abboud		Coup failure
17 February 1964	Gabon	1964 Gabonese coup d'état	Léon M'ba	Jacques Mombo Valére Essone Jean-Hilaire Aubame	Coup briefly successful; M'ba restored following French intervention
3 January 1966	Upper Volta	1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état	Maurice Yaméogo	Sangoulé Lamizana	Coup successful
18 November 1968	Mali	1968 Malian coup d'état	Modibo Keïta	Moussa Traoré	Coup successful
25 May 1969	Sudan	1969 Sudanese coup d'état	Ismail al-Azhari	Jaafar Nimeiry	Coup successful
19–22 July 1971	Sudan	1971 Sudanese coup d'état	Jaafar Nimeiry	Hashem al Atta	Coup briefly successful; Nimeiry restored following counter-coup
15 April 1974	Niger	1974 Nigerien coup d'état	Hamani Diori	Seyni Kountché	Coup successful
13–15 April 1975	Chad	1975 Chadian coup d'état	N’Garta Tombalbaye	Noël Milarew Odingar Wadel Abdelkader Kamougué	Coup successful
2–5 July 1976	Sudan	1976 Sudanese coup attempt	Jaafar Nimeiry	Sadiq al-Mahdi Muhammad Nour Saad	Coup failure
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		1983 Upper Voltan coup d'état attempt	Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo	Saye Zerbo	Coup failure
4 August 1983		1983 Upper Voltan coup d'état		Thomas Sankara	Coup successful
3 April 1984	Guinea	1984 Guinean coup d'état	Louis Lansana Beavogui	Lansana Conté	Coup successful
6 April 1985	Sudan	1985 Sudanese coup d'état	Jaafar Nimeiry	Abdel Rahman Swar al-Dahab	Coup successful
15 October 1987	Burkina Faso	1987 Burkina Faso coup d'état	Thomas Sankara	Blaise Compaoré	Coup successful
30 June 1989	Sudan	1989 Sudanese coup d'état	Ahmed al-Mirghani	Omar al-Bashir	Coup successful
18 September 1989	Burkina Faso	1989 Burkina Faso coup attempt	Blaise Compaoré	Jean-Baptiste Boukary Lingani Henri Zongo	Coup failure
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
27 January 1996	Niger	1996 Nigerien coup d'état	Mahamane Ousmane	Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara	Coup successful
9 April 1999		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	Luther Diapagri Oualy	Coup failure
16 May 2004	Chad	2004 Chadian coup attempt	Idriss Déby	Bechir Haggar	Coup failure
14 March 2006	Chad	2006 Chadian coup attempt	Idriss Déby	Tom Erdimi Timane Erdimi Seby Aguid	Coup failure
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		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
1 May 2013	Chad	2013 Chadian coup attempt	Idriss Déby	Moussa Tao Mahamat	Coup failure
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
7 January 2019	Gabon	2019 Gabonese coup attempt	Ali Bongo Ondimba	Kelly Ondo Obiang	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	Vacant	Mahamat Déby	Mahamat Déby takes office as leader of a military junta. 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 Sudanese 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		September 2022 Burkina Faso coup d'état	Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba	Ibrahim Traoré	Coup successful
15 April 2023	Sudan	War in Sudan (2023–present)	Abdel Fattah al-Burhan	Hemedti	Inconclusive; led to civil war[30][31][32]
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
30 August 2023	Gabon	2023 Gabonese coup d'état	Ali Bongo Ondimba	Brice Oligui	Coup successful
26 September 2023	Burkina Faso	2023 Burkina Faso coup attempt	Ibrahim Traoré	Abdoul Aziz Aouoba Cheikh Hamza Ouattara Christophe Maïga Sekou Ouedraogo Boubacar Keïta	Coup failure

Notes

1. Gabon is only occasionally included in the grouping.