The tweet sums it all. The winds of change may be blowing across the African continent but clearly not always in a good way. While the people of Senegal stood firm against attempts by their leader to impose himself for a third term on the populace, Mali witnessed turbulence with a coup détat toppling the government of President Touré. At the same time, Toureg rebels in the North decided to compound issues by declaring the North of the country an independent state. Just when West Africa was reeling from events in Mali, reports from Guinéa Bissau are suggesting yet another Military take over. This is not a time-warp. An accident has not transported us all to 1973 like the character Sam Tyler in Life on Mars (erm that reference never gets old for me), this is 2012 and yet there is a dangerous regression to a Coup d'etat past.
Friday, April 13, 2012
The Great Regression: Coup dÉtats and West Africa
"You'd be forgiven if you woke up & thought it was the 70s & 80s again #CoupsIn21stCenturyWestAfrica #WTF" - tweet by @kobbygraham
The tweet sums it all. The winds of change may be blowing across the African continent but clearly not always in a good way. While the people of Senegal stood firm against attempts by their leader to impose himself for a third term on the populace, Mali witnessed turbulence with a coup détat toppling the government of President Touré. At the same time, Toureg rebels in the North decided to compound issues by declaring the North of the country an independent state. Just when West Africa was reeling from events in Mali, reports from Guinéa Bissau are suggesting yet another Military take over. This is not a time-warp. An accident has not transported us all to 1973 like the character Sam Tyler in Life on Mars (erm that reference never gets old for me), this is 2012 and yet there is a dangerous regression to a Coup d'etat past.
The tweet sums it all. The winds of change may be blowing across the African continent but clearly not always in a good way. While the people of Senegal stood firm against attempts by their leader to impose himself for a third term on the populace, Mali witnessed turbulence with a coup détat toppling the government of President Touré. At the same time, Toureg rebels in the North decided to compound issues by declaring the North of the country an independent state. Just when West Africa was reeling from events in Mali, reports from Guinéa Bissau are suggesting yet another Military take over. This is not a time-warp. An accident has not transported us all to 1973 like the character Sam Tyler in Life on Mars (erm that reference never gets old for me), this is 2012 and yet there is a dangerous regression to a Coup d'etat past.
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