It is encouraging that ECOWAS was able to respond. When I saw the news that the coup had failed I wasn’t sure who to credit. But this article makes it clear that the bloc finally stepped up.
RaidBrimnes on
!ping AFRICA&DEMOCRACY
Great piece of analysis dissecting the reasons of the failure of the coup attempted in Benin this Sunday, which saw rebel elements of the Beninese armed forces temporarily seize key sites in the economic capital of Cotonou before being thwarted by loyalist troops.
Sunday’s attempt could have been the tenth successful coup to rock a Subsaharan African country in this decade, but a mix of bad timing from the pustchists and quick and resolute action from Benin’s allies, including airstrikes conducted by Benin’s neighbor Nigeria foiled the attempt and dispersed the rebel forces.
The article focuses on a undercovered part of why the coup failed: Benin has cultivated since the fall of the Communist dictatorship in 1991 a strong democratic culture that, akin to Ghana, has built from the bottom-up a multi-party democracy that had until now been spared from the coup attempts and autocratization observed in the region.
While Benin has been affected by jihadist violence in its far northern regions, the country’s integrity wasn’t as threatened as were Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, which sapped the rebel soldiers’ argument that the government failed to effectively tackle JNIM’s insurrection and was leading the country to its downfall.
While President Patrice Talon has not, unlike other leaders in the region like Alassane Ouattara or Alpha Condé, attempted to modify the Constitution to satisfy the dreaded “third-term curse” and will step down in April, his autocratic slide towards a “hyper-presidency” and his efforts to bar the opposition from running candidates in the upcoming presidential election is threatening Benin’s democratic culture.
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It is encouraging that ECOWAS was able to respond. When I saw the news that the coup had failed I wasn’t sure who to credit. But this article makes it clear that the bloc finally stepped up.
!ping AFRICA&DEMOCRACY
Great piece of analysis dissecting the reasons of the failure of the coup attempted in Benin this Sunday, which saw rebel elements of the Beninese armed forces temporarily seize key sites in the economic capital of Cotonou before being thwarted by loyalist troops.
Sunday’s attempt could have been the tenth successful coup to rock a Subsaharan African country in this decade, but a mix of bad timing from the pustchists and quick and resolute action from Benin’s allies, including airstrikes conducted by Benin’s neighbor Nigeria foiled the attempt and dispersed the rebel forces.
The article focuses on a undercovered part of why the coup failed: Benin has cultivated since the fall of the Communist dictatorship in 1991 a strong democratic culture that, akin to Ghana, has built from the bottom-up a multi-party democracy that had until now been spared from the coup attempts and autocratization observed in the region.
While Benin has been affected by jihadist violence in its far northern regions, the country’s integrity wasn’t as threatened as were Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, which sapped the rebel soldiers’ argument that the government failed to effectively tackle JNIM’s insurrection and was leading the country to its downfall.
While President Patrice Talon has not, unlike other leaders in the region like Alassane Ouattara or Alpha Condé, attempted to modify the Constitution to satisfy the dreaded “third-term curse” and will step down in April, his autocratic slide towards a “hyper-presidency” and his efforts to bar the opposition from running candidates in the upcoming presidential election is threatening Benin’s democratic culture.
Well done everyone.
Probably the lack of aura and aesthetic.