Why Have There Been So Many Coups In Former French Colonies?

[Jilly_in_VA]

“Nothing is happening. I don’t know what is going on,” were the words uttered by an exasperated-looking Ali Bongo, the president of Gabon, as he called on his supposed allies around the world to “make noise” and save him from house arrest in the presidential palace as generals overthrew him.

The video, which has been memed to death on TikTok, was aimed directly at France, the former colonial power which in recent years has seen its influence severely wane across Western and Central Africa. Since 2019 there have been coups in multiple former French colonies: Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, Chad, Guinea and, most recently, Gabon. While in Sudan, two coups have taken place in a matter of years.

Some Western analysts have used the military takeovers to claim that we are seeing the death of democracy in Africa. But the reality is far more complicated than that because each coup represents a specific country-based dynamic.

The takeovers in Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali, for example, have partly been about ending what many in those countries believe to be France’s overbearing political and military influence.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/93knwe/coup-niger-ali-bongo-france-gabon

Makes sense

[malaise]

1. Because the effin French imperialists are still stealing their money

and their minerals.

[Aristus]

2. When the French imperalist governments were forced out after each nation declared its

independence, the French tried to maintain control by putting a minority group that was hostile to the majority in all of the high government positions. This would (it was hoped) create mutual resentments among the people of that nation (which was usually just a line on a map drawn to encompass a number of diverse, mutually-suspicious tribal people) that made them easier to control from Paris.

In practice, this led to frequent coups, and the genocide in Rwanda.

Terrible practice.

[Sympthsical]

3. The Italian prime minister called Macron out on the carpet on this

But because she's the Second Mussolini or whatever, no one listened to what she said.

It was hilarious, though. I mean, she just torched his ass about France's behavior in Africa.

Link to tweet

[Johnny2X2X]

4. Russia

Russia is supporting military coups through the globe. And they're focusing on former French colonies.

[Jilly_in_VA]

5. They're just as bad

But still...did you read the article? It's all about the previous colonizers, at the base of it. Just like we did in our own revolution, they take what help they can get.