The African Union and ECOWAS are indeed sleeping dogs against human rights violations in West Africa. This is true as rights violations explain the reasons for military coups in the region
The African Union and ECOWAS are indeed sleeping dogs against human rights violations in West Africa. This is true as rights violations explain the reasons for military coups in the region. In recent times, Africa has recorded numerous military juntas including Guinea, Burkina Faso, and Mali. Claims for these coups are linked to arbitrary deprivation of life and politically motivated killings. Other reasons are related to corruption and lack of transparency in government, insecurity, failure to reconcile ethnic differences, torture, cruel, and/or inhuman treatment, economic hardship, and more.
Uncultured as these practices would appear, the AU and ECOWAS have shown minimal efforts in adjusting these harms. Rather, they have turned to combat a phenomenon that is being triggered by human rights violations.
In Guinea, there were multiple killings under Conde’s regime by security forces in the capital city of Conakry and other major towns. These killings were related to the March 2020 legislative election, constitutional referendum, and the October presidential election. According to the opposition party (Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea), security forces killed 99 individuals from the October 18 presidential election through December.
The government rejected this figure but did not provide its estimate of security force killings during this period.
In April the Collective of Organizations for the Protection of Human Rights in the Forested Guinea Region reported on the March election violence. They noted security forces did not intervene and instead were involved in some of the killings and other abuses worsened by long-standing inter-communal and ethnic tensions.
The NGO reported 36 killings, 129 wounded, 127 arrested, and 83 buildings destroyed. Several local media and other sources, however, reported that the death toll could have been as high as 60 and that local authorities buried the victims in a mass grave. There were no reports of investigations into these incidents.
In August the public prosecutor’s office announced the results of an investigation into the embezzlement of more than $51 million in public funds by two senior civil servants working for the Regulatory Authority for Posts and Telecommunications. The two civil servants, who were arrested and held pending prosecution, created fake service delivery invoices dating back to 2010 for a project managing incoming international calls.
On 5 September 2021, President Alpha Conde was captured by the country’s armed forces in Conakry. Citing reasons for the military coup in Guinea, Colonel Mamady Doumbouya’s overthrow of Conde’s regime is related to issues of insecurity, bad governance, corruption, and mismanagement. The incapacity of AU and ECOWAS to address problems of human rights violations makes a military coup inevitable. Though recognized as an unconstitutional phenomenon, a military junta could be a way out for Guinea’s freedom.
There were numerous reports of disappearances of civilian suspects reported numerous accounts of torture committed by the military, gendarmerie, police, VDPs, and members of the Koglweogo. The majority of allegations of torture involved victims suspected of having links to terrorists or persons of Fulani/Peuhl ethnicity.
The law provides criminal penalties for corruption by officials, but Kabore’s government did not implement the law effectively. Throughout- 2020 the press reported cases of misappropriation of public funds, fraud, or other offenses. The National Network for Anti-Corruption cited the General Directorate of Land and Maritime Transport, police, and customs as the most corrupt entities in the government. On May 26, the former minister of defense Jean-Claude Bouda was arrested for using government funds to build personal wealth but was later released on October 22.
On June 14, Judge Narcisse Sawadogo was arrested on corruption allegations, as part of a broader judicial process involving Ouagadougou’s Mayor Armand Beouinde. Charging documents indicated the magistrate had asked for financial compensation to help Beouinde avoid justice. Beouinde was accused of using taxpayer money to buy vehicles worth 4.6 billion CFA francs ($7.9 million). Sawadogo was released on December 28 after the court ruled the offence as not constituted.
The creation of economic and political blocs on the globe is to encourage a better life existence among people and nations. The AU and ECOWAS have demonstrated increasing failure towards this commitment. The military overthrow of Christian Kabore’s government by Paul Henri Sandaogo Damiba on 23 January 2022 is a result of the government’s incapacity to protect its civilian population while combating rising issues of insecurity, corruption, and lack of transparency in government dealings.
The government made little or no effort in international condemnation of military coups, Malians have celebrated Colonel Assimi Goita’s military triumph and may not welcome ECOWAS’ efforts to intervene. On 24 May 2021, the interim government President Bah N’daw was stripped from power by Assimi Goita for trying to “sabotage” the transition of power to civilian hands.
On April 5, 2018, 14 Fulani civilian suspects were killed by the Malian Armed Forces. The Armed Forces issued a statement saying that 14 men had died while attempting to escape. However, witnesses believed that these men were executed by Malian soldiers. On May 19, a Malian battalion assigned to the G5 Sahel Joint Force summarily and arbitrarily executed 12 civilians at the Boulikessi livestock market in an act of retaliation, according to a MINUSMA investigation.
On June 15, 2018, three common graves were discovered in Nantaka and Kombaga in the Mopti Region believed to have contained the remains of at least 25 men executed after their detention by soldiers. The Ministry of Defense and Veterans Affairs released a statement recognizing the existence of these graves and the involvement of military personnel in the events.
Corruption in all sectors of the Malian administration was widely spread. In April, the general auditor of Mali released its 2016 and 2017 reports on government fraud, waste, and abuse. The prime minister’s financial directorate, the national treasury, and the Mopti and Segou regional budget agencies were among the agencies reported having lost 23.28 billion CFA amounting to more than 40 million dollars in Malian taxpayers’ money at the time.
Before the 2021 military coup, in August 2020 President Keita was toppled by a military alliance led by Colonel Assimi Goita. For many Malians, President Boubacar Keita was a symbol of instability, government corruption, and lack of infrastructure, education, and health care. Many believed he represented the failures of governance that have led to civilian killings in Mali. Despite international condemnation of military coups, Malians have celebrated Colonel Assimi Goita’s military triumph and may not welcome ECOWAS’ efforts to intervene. On 24 May 2021, the interim government President Bah N’daw was stripped from power by Assimi Goita for trying to “sabotage” the transition of power to civilian hands.
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