Reconsidering African Union / ECOWAS responses to UCGs: The recent wave of coups d’état in Africa

The roundtable took place on 28.02.2022 as part of the ReCentGlobe Annual Conference 2022 "
The early 2020s:
A Watershed in the Global Condition?" (27.–29.02.2022).

Round Table organized by the BMBF research network “African non-military conflict intervention
practices (ANCIP)”

Since August 2020 the African continent has witnessed serious setbacks in its collective efforts
to strengthen principles of democratic rule, good governance, and human rights, especially in
the West African region. Successful coups d’état were staged in Burkina Faso, Chad, Guinea,
and twice in Mali. Military efforts to seize power failed in Benin, the Central African Republic,
Guinea-Bissau, and Niger, while Sudan saw both a failed and successful coup. The African
Union and the relevant Regional Economic Communities (RECs) invoked their respective policy
scripts on so-called unconstitutional changes of government (UCGs) and suspended these
countries from their organisations. However, in none of these cases did a return to constitutional
order occur. Some observers have therefore called to carefully rethink and revise the policies on
UCGs guiding both the African Union and the Economic Community of West African States
(ECOWAS). The Round Table will review these developments and discuss the policy options at
hand.

Organizer:
Ulf Engel (Leipzig)

Participants:
Ambassador Said Djinnit (Brussels)
Ulf Engel (Leipzig)
Christof Hartmann (Duisburg-Essen)
Antonia Witt (Frankfurt)

(C) ReCentGlobe Mai 2022