Recent footages of Ali Bongo Ondimbo may have presaged the military coup that yesterday toppled the 56-year-old Gabonese President, who succeeded his father, Omar Bongo (who ruled the country for 42 years until death in 2009). The younger Bongo, recovering from a debilitating stroke, was looking frail and pitiful which made his public appearances more of a national embarrassment. Yet, he clung to power until he was toppled in a military coup, barely four days after winning a controversial election that would have given him a third term in office.

In typical African sit -tight tradition, the Bongo family has ruled over Gabon for a total of 55 years. But in a television photo opportunity that has become typical of the recent Franco-phone coups, a group of soldiers appeared on Gabonese national television to announce their decision to seize the reins of state power ‘in the name of the Gabonese people’ after declaring the weekend’s presidential elections as flawed and dubious. Typically, they have suspended the constitution. They have also placed the ousted president under house arrest and arrested one of his sons for ‘high treason.’

The coup in Gabon is coming barely two months after the one in Niger which is still at the centre of diplomatic attention in West Africa. The Gabon episode would seem to be part of a series of recent coups that have ravaged Franco-phone Africa spanning Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, Niger and now Gabon. The previous coups have been advanced and marketed as the result of a series of identical causes ranging from insecurity from jihadist terrorists and insurgents to economic adversity and political misrule by leaders enthroned by democratic elections.

It requires reiterating that part of the audacity of the new crop of French speaking African coupists is the result of recent disengagement of France from its potentates on the continent. The withdrawal is mostly the result of a revolt by these African countries against the extant exploitative colonial era relationship with France. Under the terms, France retained tight control over the international financial transactions of these former colonies as well as curtailed the autonomy of their central banks, making them subject to French supervision and final authorisation.

Meanwhile, the recent serial disengagement from its African outposts has also removed the safety switch of ready French intervention and stabilisation forces which used to be the guarantee against instability and security threats in these countries. And in the absence of standby French forces, the frail armies of these countries have taken an easy recourse to coups – often just involving a television group photo opportunity by a collective of mutineers and ambitious soldiers. That is why leaders on the continent should be concerned.

The frenzy of coups in West and Central Africa may end up destabilising not just the region but also upsetting an already stressed global big power equation. The decline of French influence and military presence in the region exposes Western-oriented countries in West and Central Africa to direct jihadist insurgency and terrorism. More dangerously, West and Central Africa are now under the immediate direct threat of Russia’s ambition and influence through the conspicuous presence and activities of the Wagner Group of mercenaries all over the affected countries.

For Africa, the recent spate of coups challenges our leaders to increase confidence in democracy by ensuring that the processes and practice of civil rule meet the hopes of the people. For the free world, there is a clear and urgent task of restoring confidence in democracy by using diplomatic pressure to roll back the specter of coups in Central and West Africa.

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