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

Roundtable with Antonia Witt at the ReCentGlobe Conference in Leipzig

ReCentGlobe Conference Poster

Poster: ReCentGlobe Conference

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 organized by the BMBF research network African non-military conflict inter­vention practices (ANCIP) will review these develop­ments and discuss the policy options at hand.

Participants

  • Ambassador Said Djinnit (Brussels)
  • Ulf Engel (Leipzig, Organizer)
  • Christof Hartmann (Duisburg-Essen)
  • Antonia Witt (Frankfurt)

 

When: Thursday, 28 April 2022, 03:30–06:00 p.m. (Central European Summer Time)
Where: Inter­city Hotel, Room "Brühl 2", Tröndlinring 2, 04105 Leipzig | Online via Zoom

All panels and all events take place in a hybrid setting – you can watch and participate online and on-site. Please find more infor­mation and the link to Zoom on the ReCentGlobe Annual Conference's website.