Foreign interests behind rise in African coups: Ghana president

The president of Ghana, who is also chair of the West Africa regional bloc Ecowas, says there is an international dimension to the recent spate of military coups in Africa.

Nana Akufo-Addo told an African Union forum that "some foreign entities regard coups in Africa as a means of enhancing their regional ambition".

He said outside influences were behind disinformation campaigns undermining the authority of governments in the continent and instigating opposition protests.

The president however did not give details of those he thought were linked to the coups.

Recent military takeovers in Burkina Faso, Mali and Guinea have prompted calls for African leaders to promote good governance in order to subdue disaffection among citizens..

Military coups in Africa, the most important legacy of Western colonialism

Military coups in African countries, which have increased significantly in recent years, are the most important legacy of the Western colonial powers.

In their grab for influence and resources, colonial powers drew artificial borders across the Middle East and Africa, often arbitrarily splitting traditional tribal territories into new states.

These Western imperialists turned African countries into hotbeds of conflict and war, exposing them to violent changes of power to the point that the number of coups exceeded 200 since the late 1950s.

The latest military takeover in Africa took place last week in Guinea after the country’s president, Alpha Conde, was overthrown by the junta.

So far this year, there's been a noticeably higher than average number of coups compared with the previous two decades (Niger, Chad, Mali and Guinea).

While African countries have been striving for national unity since gaining independence from European colonists, most are still involved in political crises and military coups.

Experts say Europe's arbitrary post-colonial borders left Africans bunched into countries that don't represent their heritage, a contradiction that still troubles them today.

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