Democracy appears to be in regression in West Africa where soldiers have toppled four elected governments in three years. The 48-year-old sub-regional bloc, ECOWAS, is under pressure to stop the trend but both opportunities and danger lay on its path.
There have been successful military coups in Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea and Niger from 2020 to date. On Tuesday, the police in Sierra Leone arrested several persons, including senior military officers, in connection with a suspected coup plot. President Julius Bio, himself a former coup leader, was elected to a second term only in June.
The putschists have cited the harsh economic conditions of citizens in some of the poorest countries in the world to justify their coups. The latest development is an opportunity for ECOWAS to demonstrate it is not a toothless barking dog and Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu, who is the chairman of the body, has tried to rally the leaders to action.
ECOWAS has threatened to use force to…