Macron is pushing France to tipping point

In the last three years, Mali, Guinea, Sudan, Burkina Faso and Niger have all undergone coup d’états. The most recent regime change was last week in the west African nation of Niger, where Mohamed Bazoum was overthrown by the elements of the presidential guard.  

The coup’s leader is Colonel-Major Amadou Abdramane. Last Wednesday he informed Niger’s 24 million citizens on state-run television that President Bazoum had been removed because of ‘the continuous deterioration of the security situation, the bad social and economic management’. 

Military men were also behind the coups in the other four African nations, seizing power ostensibly because of what they claimed was the ruinous leadership of their presidents. In particular, they were angry at the failure of their leaders to effectively combat the growing menace of jihadists – well-organised groups affiliated to the Islamic State and al-Qaeda.