Coup: Reps Minority Caucus Condemns Coups In Niger, Gabon, Others

• The House Minority Caucus condemns the recent surge in coups across Africa, viewing it as a setback to democracy’s progress
• They call for international organizations to address root causes and provide justice to nations suffering under long-standing dictatorships

The House Minority Caucus has condemned the recent surge in coups in African countries, calling it a setback to the continent’s efforts to establish democracy.

The caucus expressed its displeasure with the growing trend of military interventions on the continent in a statement issued by Minority Leader Kingsley Chinda.

He said;

It is extremely sad, deeply worrisome and pathetically shameful that the continent in the past few years has witnessed a sudden rise in military coups in some countries thereby rolling back the gains of the democratic struggles for the return to civil rule of the late 1980s and 1990s.

It is totally condemnable that in the past one decade military putsches have taken place in Sudan, Mali, Tunisia, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Niger Republic and now Gabon. That these countries are in the Western, Northern and Central regions of Africa, which represent more than half of the entire continent, calls for serious concerns and debilitating worry.

While condemning the coups, the caucus noted that the recent events were precipitated by years of injustice perpetrated by leaders, particularly sit-tight leaders who had subjected the masses to untold hardships.

They further said;

Fact is, having suffered long and painful years of total neglect by their leaders through official insensitivity, deliberate class segregation, enforcement of inimical political and economic programmes and other negative decisions and actions, sadly the sound of martial music has become a welcome relief and friend for citizens.

As a result, the caucus called for concerted efforts by the United Nations (UN), ECOWAS, the African Union (AU), and other African regional bodies to address the root causes of the problems and ensure justice for the people of African countries that have been subjected to democratic dictatorships for decades.