On July 26, there was a military coup in Niger. It was the fifth coup in Sahel West Africa in three years, the others having been in Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea and Chad, Now, everyone is talking about the West African Coup Belt and the Sahel Coup Zone, and such other names. Some people are going as far as claiming that there is a return to the age of coups in Africa.…
In some East African countries, citizens frustrated with the state of affairs, are praying for coups, So far, thankfully, the gods haven’t heard their prayers, There has been no successful coup in the East African Community zone for 30 years, the last failed bid being by Maj-Gen Godefroid Niyombare in Burundi in May 2015.
But the most remarkable thing about the EAC is that two countries, Kenya and Tanzania, survived the 1960s to 1980s coup epidemics, Many clever men and women have wrestled with this apparent Kenyan and Tanzanian immunity to coups, and the question remains unresolved. I again asked a few East African experts and elders for an explanation and decided to create a composite of their most outside-the-box answers, in the voice of Abdul, that famous charac-ter from our old East African English textbooks.
COO: We are seeing coups in Sahel West Africa but, so far, none in East Africa. None in Southern Africa too, we must add. But let us stay with our East Africa, would you say East Africa is beyond coups?
Abdul: Definitely not, but the risks are very low except in three EAC member states.
