In a refreshing twist to what had begun to look like a depressing turn to the days when coups were very present in post-colonial Africa, 80 political parties and non-governmental organizations in Mali joined forces earlier this month to demand new elections after nearly four years of rule by a military junta.
However, “coup contagion” lurks on Africa’s political horizon, as a recent failed attempt in South Sudan shows. A number of other coup attempts in African states in recent years have been successful. This scenario has again led experts to opine about a “coup contagion” on the continent, one that has seen 214 coup attempts since 1960, 106 of which were successful. The tragedy of the most recent series of coups is that, as recently as 2018, their occurrence had reached an all-time low.
In recent years, however, Africa has been rocked by a violent coup attempt in Sierra Leone that took place in November. Additionally, a similarly violent series of clashes in Guinea-Bissau late last year led to the dissolution of that nation’s legislature.
Before that, Africa had seen leaders overthrown in Gabon and Niger because, in the case of the former, former president Ali Bongo was ousted after a disputed re-election, and in the case of the latter, the country’s military establishment preemptively removed Mohamed Bazum. , which had been deemed not to provide essential services to the public.
And there were others. Back-to-back coups in Mali in 2020 and 2021 have left the country in political flux until now.
In short, this return to old stereotypes has been hard on Africans because until recently we were moving in a more democratic direction.
My family foundation’s research highlights just how strong the demand for a democratic future really is.
As we saw in the ground-breaking survey of Africa’s youth – which the Ichikowitz Family Foundation is now conducting in 16 countries for the third round – our continent’s rising generation is determined, to quote Nelson Mandela, to be masters of fate and captains of their own fate.
It’s a lesson anti-democratic leaders would do well to remember in the coming months and years.
While 1 in 5 respondents to the 2022 poll still see a military coup as a viable alternative to an oppressive ruler clinging to power against the odds, our research has shown that Africa’s youth are losing patience with repressive and delaying tricks.
Almost two-thirds of our young people disapprove of military rule. There is a strong appetite for democracy on the continent. 74% of Africa’s youth believe it is the best form of government.
Significantly, a significant majority of respondents agree that the form of democracy that will prevail on this continent is not the often rigid and often aggressive form of government inherited from the West, but an indigenous, more responsive form of government.
There is no doubt that the cult of age in Africa is embedded in the psyche of all of us who have grown up on this continent. But this is a respect that is sometimes abused and certainly not reciprocated by a group of heads of state either at their retirement date or long after.
It is an attitude that is both short-sighted and ultimately self-defeating because the continent has the youngest population in the world and that growing demographic is not afraid to make its voice heard – nor its will.
Young Africans want a new style of democracy that responds to the realities and challenges of the continent. They demand a democratic system that will encourage economic growth and genuine inclusion, nation to nation, across Africa — ensuring greater representation of Africa’s youth, who in most cases are their country’s largest demographic, to avoid military intervention and allow popular-based political rule to develop and thrive.
Mark my words – to break the cycle and put the threat of a ‘broadcast coup’ firmly in the past, we need to listen more closely to our rising generation.
Ivor Ichikowitz is an African industrialist and philanthropist. He chairs the Ichikowitz Family Foundation, which created and funds the African Youth Survey. ©2024 Chicago Tribune. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.