GOLD MERCURY INTERNATIONAL Global Governance Policy Series: The Utility and Purpose of the Coup D’état
The Utility and GLOBAL GOVERNANCE POLICY SERIES
Purpose of the Coup st D’état in 21 Century Global Governance
Keywords: Global governance> peace and security> military coup> coup d’état> guardian coup> democracy> corruption> dictators> Niger> Zimbabwe> Thailand> Nigeria> UN Security Council.
March 2010
A critical analysis of the general consensus regarding armed revolution following February’s coup in Niger
10 MINUTES
GOLD MERCURY INTERNATIONAL Global Governance Policy Series: The Utility and Purpose of the Coup D’état
Introduction Niger, officially named the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east. Niger is a developing country. Much of the non-desert portions of the country are threatened by periodic drought and desertification. The economy is concentrated around subsistence and some export agriculture clustered in the more fertile south, and
On Thursday the 18th of February 2010 a military coup was staged, deposing (and imprisoning) the President of Niger, Mamadou Tandja. The following day, a military junta called the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy laid claim to power. This junta, under the leadership of Major Salou Djibou, will (according to their statements) lead a transitional government and hold democratic elections to reinstate civilian leadership. They have stated that they want Niger to be “an example of democracy and of good governance.”
the export of raw materials— especially uranium ore. Nigerien society reflects a great diversity drawn from the
long independent histories of its several ethnic groups and regions and their relatively short period living in a single state.
GOLD MERCURY INTERNATIONAL Global Governance Policy Series: The Utility and Purpose of the Coup D’état
Salou Djibo (born 15 April 1965) is a Nigerien military officer. Following the military coup of 18 February 2010, he became head of the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy and thus de facto leader of Niger.
This type of coup, known as a “guardian coup” sees a military force remove a leader from power in order to protect the state. In Niger’s case, the people were left with few options. Whilst President Tandja was democratically elected for both of his terms since 1999, he would not relinquish power when it was time for him to step down. According to a number of statements he made, he was initially very willing to step down at the end of his second term until some of his constituency held demonstrations, asking him to stay on. Soon after that he said: “the people have demanded I remain”, following which he planned a referendum designed to overrule the national constitution’s term limitations. When these moves were contested, he dissolved the national assembly, disbanded the government and announced his intention to rule by decree (in other words, as a dictator). So one must ask: “what else is one to do?” A guardian coup can remove a leader such as this from power and set the country back on the path towards healthy, sustainable governance. If he was left in power he may have eventually taken a path similar to Zimbabwe’s Mugabe - fiercely holding on to power at the cost of the citizenry. Furthermore, Niger is a state suffering from major food shortages and is in an economic doldrums. A large chunk of the state forms part of the Sahara desert and they only have one resource worth noting, uranium. In other words, the state can ill-afford taking any steps backward. Of course a coup is exactly that, but one hopes only for the short-term.
Mamadou Tandja (born 1938) is a Nigerien politician who was President of Niger from 1999 to 2010. He was President of the National Movement
of the Development Society (MNSD) from 1991 to 1999 and unsuccessfully ran as the MNSD’s presidential candidate in 1993 and 1996 before being
elected to his first term in 1999. While serving as President of Niger, he was also Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States from 2005 to 2007. Following a constitutional crisis in 2009, which was caused by Tandja’s efforts to remain in office beyond the originally scheduled end of his term, he was ousted by the military in a coup d’etat in February 2010.