United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield says she is “extraordinarily concerned by the number of coups that we have seen happen across West Africa in the Sahel and the impact that those coups are having”.
The West African Subregion is facing what experts fear could be a regression in democracy due to the increased incidents of military takeovers of constitutionally elected governments.
In 2023 alone, there have been at least four successful coup d’états (Niger, Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso), with numerous attempted overthrows, raising concerns about instability in the region.
Just last week, the Sierra Leonean government announced that a series of attacks on military barracks and prisons constituted a failed coup attempt, resulting in the arrest of 13 military officers and one civilian.
“The incident was a failed attempted coup. The intention was to illegally subvert and overthrow a democratically elected government,” Information Minister Chernor Bah noted at a news conference.
Commenting on the precarious security situation during a lecture at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Center ahead of the 2023 UN Peacekeeping Ministerial in Accra, Ghana, United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield noted that as a net exporter of peace, Ghana has played a critical role in stabilizing the region.
She added that the country’s leaders have worked tirelessly to raise African perspectives and concerns at the UN Security Council, deploy thousands of troops to serve in UN peacekeeping missions in Africa, and ensure a peaceful transition of power, a free press, and resilient democratic processes that serve as a model for others.
“But some leaders in other countries have taken the opposite tack. They’ve chosen to turn their backs on the international system. To consolidate power for themselves at the expense of the rights, freedoms, and prosperity of their own people. To isolate themselves and their populations from regional institutions like ECOWAS and the African Union and global ones like the United Nations and instead turn to actors like the Wagner group that solve conflict, exploitation and destruction for profit. But this is a dangerous decision, and it is a short-sighted one” she said.
Citing the example of Mali, where the transition government chose Wagner and kicked a UN peacekeeping mission out of the country, a peacekeeping mission that included Ghanaian soldiers, the American diplomat expressed worry that the peace agreement fell apart, empowering violent extremist groups and creating instability that threatens all of West Africa.
Ambassador Greenfield added “The decision has not made Mali safer. After Wagner was invited into Mali in 2021, more civilians were killed in 2022 than in any other year since the conflict began in 2012. And 2023 is on track to be even deadlier. It’s clear that this approach simply doesn’t work.”
economic growth and opportunities of citizens stressing that “they’re not doing this for free. They’re taking well-deserved money that should be used for building a country’s economy, for creating jobs, for supporting people millions of dollars a month from these countries to provide support for their leaders to stay in power longer than they should”.
Admitting that the activities of violent extremists could potentially derail stable democracies in West Africa, Ambassador Greenfield reiterated the pledge of Vice President Kamala Harris when she visited the country earlier this year announcing plans for an enhanced support programme that will see the capacity building and funding to the tune of some 100 million dollars to aid counter-extremism measures and also to bolster human rights in Ghana and other African countries
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