West Africa’s ‘coup belt’: Did Mali’s 2020 army takeover change the region?

At least 10 coup attempts have been recorded in Central and West Africa since the August 2020 military takeover in Mali.

Four years ago this month, a group of Malian soldiers descended on a military base in Kati, close to the capital Bamako, arrested their most senior leaders, and seized weapons from the armoury.

Shortly after, they stormed Bamako in trucks, where they detained then-President Aboubakar Keita, as Malians jubilated in the streets. The August 18, 2020, coup d’etat came after weeks of protests against Keita who faced calls to resign, amid accusations that his government was corrupt and failed to clamp down on an armed rebellion in the country’s north waged by groups linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS). The new military government promised to tackle the fighters swiftly.

That August marked an end to eight years of political stability in Mali, where between 2012 and 2020 there were no military takeovers in an area that was coup-prone. The takeover also stamped the start of a political ripple in the wider West Africa region that has since seen other civilian governments fall.

“We largely saw civilian rule strengthening in Africa up until that moment, and I think that the Mali coup was a critical juncture in the weakening of that norm,” said Dan Eizenga of the United States-based Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS). The slew of coups is reminiscent of the 1980s-1990s when African countries newly liberated from colonial rule faced a barrage of rebellions.

“I don’t think you’ll find another four years that has seen so many coups and counter-coups since [that time],” Eizenga told Al Jazeera.