A coup in progress in Mali
Background
When we look back in the human history, beyond war and conquest we see a basic human tendency. We see the tendency to overthrow a regime of a country and establish oneself to power. Events like these take a violent form or sometimes become nonviolent, but they can carry any course of form. Instances like these are not unique, as every regime on the continent under human habitation has experienced coups one way or the other, regardless of their success.
The change of regime takes place that takes place during the coups, brings more than just instability to the nation, it brings insurgency in affect. Instability within the government of the nation makes both business and financial investment impossible, hence adversely affecting the wealth of the nation. Government founded with coups have less or no international support, hence a government formed by a coup takes a lot of time to legitimise its working and cooperation on international trade. Those countries affected by coups due to sectarian tensions, a takeover of one government add more fire to an already deteriorating situation, making tensions even deeper.
Everything seems to change when a democratically elected government is thrown by a military junta, affecting the nation, public reforms and the people. Catastrophic changes occur once the government you voted for is dismissed with a military ruling party, affecting the nation both financially and economically, as the wealth flows in the hands of the new government. Governments with such instability and frequent regime changes, generally face the hard time of implementing public policies and reforms with vast corruptions. When a government rises from a deeper conflict, it becomes difficult to create a strong identity as a state. All of these affect the nation, bringing hardship on its people while affecting on growth and development of the nation.
Current Situation
Africa is a continent that has seen large number of coups, plotted, attempted and even successful. These coups were sporadic and largely affecting the people irrespective of race and religion. Yet in spite of being history, it has moved on with us. It has neither been prevented nor has it been stopped. The Arab Spring is yet another example of violence and destruction that brought more or less revolution in the North Africa, forcing the regimes to step down and form what we know as “Arab democracy”. The continued violence what so ever had different outcomes in different regions under the Arab Spring. Recently the military government in Egypt was replaced by the newly democratically elected government. However violence still can be heard in some parts of city. Mali is another North African country where the Tuareg and Islamists militants are fighting against the government that was earlier established in a coup.
These events have only bought death and disruption of nation’s development. Nations such as Kenya and Somalia have been affected by insurgencies for a very long time. Recently the siege on a mall in Nairobi made foreign policy analysts concerned about the government acts on insurgencies and policies to protect the civilians. Somalia has been in the grip of civil war for more than a decade, making it a “failed state”.
These conditions continue to affect Africa as more and more insurgency groups join in the civil unrest. Those people who wish to remove the tyrants and those would be tyrants who wish to remove the democratic government, use any means of power during such revolutions. Nations such as Egypt, Madagascar and Mali have been under coups and insurgency for long, forcing the AU to suspend them from its activities as per the norms.
It is important to re-establish the government democratically but the nature of human beings such as command and conquer will stop the process with everything.
By,
Anant Mishra
Former Youth Representative
United Nations