There have been eight coups in Africa since 2019. And since 2012, 23. Mali and Burkina Faso, two countries located next to each other in West Africa, have experienced two coups each since 2020, and these anti-democratic deviations nevertheless reflect a trend that, appears to have cast its shadow over much of the African continent in recent years.

According to the report 2022 Ibrahim African Governance Index which he released a few days ago Mo Ibrahim Foundation British billionaire of Sudanese origin Mo Ibrahim, 70% of all Africans will live in areas in 2022 that are considered less safe than in 2012.

At the same time, especially since 2017, “participation in democratic institutions” and “security and the rule of law”, according to the respective metrics, are declining.

In the meantime, a pandemic period has set in, exacerbating many of the pre-existing democratic deficits.

“Even before the pandemic, a growing number of African leaders were trying to breach their term limits or rig elections to stay in power…Then COVID-19 gave them an excuse to postpone planned election campaigns (in Somalia and Ethiopia), to silence opposition voices (in Uganda and Tanzania) and impose restrictions on the media… In addition, the imposition of restrictions related to the pandemic has been violent in some cases, leading to protests in countries such as Kenya and South Africa…”, noted last year in his report (“What’s Happening to Democracy in Africa?”) by analysts at the Council on Foreign Relations.

According to the Washington Post