In recent years, West Africa has been shaken by anti-Western military interventions that spread to Niger in 2023. Gabon, a Central African state, also saw a coup this year.

Political instability and economic crises, partially a legacy of Western colonisation of Africa, have plagued countries of the continent for many decades.

Since 2020, back-to-back anti-colonialist military coups have rocked the West African region, ranging from Guinea to Burkina Faso and Mali. In 2021, Chad’s army came to power.

In July 2023, Niger experienced a coup, followed by another coup in Gabon, when the military seized control of the Central African state.

The series of coups, coupled with the anti-Western cultural endeavours of some African states, have indicated that political dynamics are changing across the continent and that Africa, as a whole, is moving in a new direction.

Mali, where the first anti-Western military coup occurred more than three years ago, dropped French as its official language in July, signalling that anti-colonialist sentiment has become a growing trend across West Africa. Mali also expelled French troops stationed in the country and cut diplomatic ties with its former coloniser.

Niger coup

On July 26, the African state’s military leadership ousted the country’s elected President Mohamed Bazoum, who unsuccessfully tried to quell terrorist activities across Niger with the help of French troops.

The president’s apparent failure against armed groups — from Boko Haram to Al Qaeda’s regional branches, which have been active across the Sahel region — created a popular backlash against both his leadership and France, the former colonial power in Niger.

Niger’s army, like the military leaders of West African states Mali and Burkina Faso, used popular anti-French and anti-colonialist sentiments to facilitate its coup, accusing Bazoum of serving as the representative of Western interests, according to experts.

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