confidentially speaking
The Africa Confidential Blog
Coups against constitutions
Blue Lines
African and Western ambivalence about military interventions in
politics were drawn into sharp focus this week by arguments over
whether Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe had been ousted by a
coup and a revival of claims that France had backed a coup against Thomas
Sankara, the popular leader of Burkina
Faso, in 1987.
The Mugabe military conundrum has immediate resonance as his
successor,
Emmerson Mnangagwa, tries to
convince international finance agencies
and their Western shareholders that he came to power constitutionally,
despite outward appearances. Alpha
Condé, Guinea's
President and
current chair of the African Union, asked some awkward questions, which
could have proved disastrous for Mnangagwa and his allies. If the AU
had classified Mugabe's exit as a coup, that would have triggered
Zimbabwe's suspension from the organisation, perhaps even sanctions.
But far from rushing to label the Mnangagwa succession as a coup, Asian
and European governments, including Britain,
have endorsed the new
government's rise to power as innovative political management, even
down to the organisation of mass protests against Mugabe.
France's President Emmanuel Macron was reminded of the
complexities of coup politics when he chose to make a speech in
Ouagadougou 30 years after Blaise
Compaoré overthrew Sankara's
government. He offered to open his government's secret files on the
case. That could set a powerful precedent.
