Mamady Doumbouya Defends African Coups as Responses to Broken Promises

By Kundu Ronald

New York - Colonel Mamadi Doumbouya, the leader of Guinea's junta and interim president, has presented a robust defense of recent military coups in Africa, arguing that these actions are an attempt by militaries to rescue their nations from presidents' "broken promises." Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly, Doumbouya challenged the West's perspective on these coups and called for a deeper examination of their underlying causes.

"The putschist is not only the person who takes up arms to overthrow a regime," Doumbouya asserted to a global audience in New York. "I want us all to be well aware of the fact that the real putschists, the most numerous, are those who avoid any condemnation - they are those... who cheat to manipulate the text of the constitution in order to stay in power eternally."

Guinea is just one of several West and Central African nations that have witnessed eight coups since 2020, including recent events in Niger and Gabon. These military takeovers have elicited varied responses, with some citizens in these countries celebrating them while international organizations and foreign nations express concern about the continent's stability. Africa's youthful population, projected to exceed 1.3 billion by 2050, is poised to constitute a quarter of the world's population.

Doumbouya accused certain African leaders of holding onto power through various means, often involving constitutional amendments, to the detriment of their citizens' well-being.

In the case of Guinea, Doumbouya contended that the September 2021 coup he led was essential to prevent the country from "slipping into complete chaos." He argued that similar situations existed in other coup-affected nations and were the result of "broken promises, the lethargy of the people, and leaders tampering with constitutions with the sole concern of remaining in power to the detriment of collective well-being."

Doumbouya also rejected Western and developed countries' efforts to intervene in Africa's political challenges, asserting that Africans are weary of being categorized and influenced by external powers.

"We Africans are insulted by the boxes, the categories which sometimes place us under the influence of the Americans, sometimes under that of the British, the French, the Chinese, and the Turks," proclaimed the Guinean leader. "Today, the African people are more awake than ever and more determined than ever to take their destiny into their own hands."

While Colonel Doumbouya staunchly defended the coups in his country and others, concerns linger regarding the effectiveness of military takeovers in addressing the challenges that purportedly led to their intervention.

In Mali, where soldiers have maintained power since 2020, the Islamic State group expanded its territory considerably in less than a year, according to U.N. experts. Additionally, Burkina Faso, which witnessed two coups in 2020, experienced a decline in economic growth, dropping from 6.9% in 2021 to 2.5% in 2022.

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, who leads the West Africa regional bloc ECOWAS, emphasized that "military coups are wrong, as is any tilted civilian political arrangement that perpetuates injustice." Tinubu is leading regional efforts to reverse coups.

"The wave sweeping across parts of Africa does not endorse coups," Tinubu asserted. "It represents a demand for solutions to enduring problems." As the international community grapples with the complex issue of coups in Africa, the debate over the legitimacy and effectiveness of these interventions continues to be a topic of global concern.