Another coup in another former French colony in Africa.

More than a month after Niger’s president, Mohamed Bazoum, was taken hostage by his own presidential guard, Gabon’s army last week seized power from elected leader Ali Bongo and placed him under house arrest.

A coup is usually defined as an illegal and open attempt by the military – or other civilian officials – to carry out a coup overthrow the leaders in practice.

Although the total number of coup attempts in Africa was high after countries became independent, averaging about four per year between 1960 and the late 1990s, starting in 2000 the number of rebellions declined progressively.

Before Niger and Gabon, there was Burkina Faso, which saw not one but two coups in 2022.

In January last year, the then Burkine president, Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, was overthrown by the army, whose leader was then removed by lower-ranking soldiers on September 30, just eight months later.

Two years later, his words still stand.

But what causes this new wave?

Cameroonian political analyst Leonard Mbulle said coups had become a new trend in Africa.

“We can no longer say that this is an isolated case,” he said in an interview with BBC Mundo.

This African political expert confirms there are several constant in countries where coups have occurred in recent years.

“In these countries there is bad governance, abuse of power, the economy of each country is not developing rapidly and in some cases there are leaders who commit election fraud.”

Mbulle points out that is one reason why many Africans view the military as unimportant worthy alternative This is because many ousted leaders show favoritism to certain ethnic groups or regions, or work more for the interests of their political parties than for the interests of the people.

“The military is seen as a non-partisan institution that can work in the interests of the nation,” he explained.

Except for Sudan, all these countries are former French colonies which since independence have remained in the zone of influence of European countries or what is called “Franzafrica”.

Since 1990, approx 80% of the 29 coups were carried out in Africa Sub-Saharan Africa has occurred in former French colonies.

According to experts, more than just coincidence, part of the reason can be found there.

Many people in Africa often associate regional instability with France, a former colonial country that still maintains a strong presence on the continent.

Anti-French sentiment was also present in coup movements in several countries such as Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali, where protests were organized to oppose France’s habitual burning of European flags.

In Niger, for example, accusations against former president Mohamed Bazoum, who was overthrown in July this year, are absurd. puppet to serve French interests They served to legitimize his dismissal.

In Mali, Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga, appointed prime minister by the military junta in September 2022, criticized “neocolonialist, condescending, paternalistic and revanchist policies” in France, a country that, he said, had “denied universal moral values. ” ” and had stabbed Mali “in the back”.

Experts point out that while France cannot be blamed for all of the continent’s problems, the political system designed by the French colonial regime to extract resources has been widely reported.

And even after granting independence to its former colonies, France continued to have a presence on the continent through different mechanisms.

Seven of West Africa’s nine French-speaking states still use it as their currency. CFA francswhich is pegged to the euro and controlled by the French Treasury.

France also maintains a strong military presence on the continent thanks to defense agreements signed with various countries, although recent coups have reduced the military presence significantly.

Burkina Faso’s military government in February ended a long-standing agreement allowing French troops to operate in the country, giving France a month to withdraw its troops.

Africa is the continent with the highest number of coups in the world.

Of the 18 coups recorded globally since 2017, all but one (Myanmar in 2021) occurred in Africa.

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