January 27, 2026: Currently two dozen African countries are experiencing some form of terrorism, ethnic conflicts or civil war. Seven of these nations had undergone a coup, with the military taking control from the elected government. There are many reasons why these coups take place in Africa, where tribal loyalties are often a factor. Political or armed conflicts between tribes sometimes lead to coups, especially when the soldiers cannot suppress the tribal violence. Another common cause of coups is economic problems that cause high unemployment and high rates of poverty. This is often the result of weak governments that are unable to provide personal or economic security. Issues over sharing are another common cause.

For decades African nations were heavily influenced by foreign corporations or governments that interfered with how the local government operated. There are many corrupt elected governments in Africa and the local military leaders often try to deal with the corruption by taking over the government, purportedly trying to reduce the corruption and then allow democracy to return. That rarely works as the corruption is often extensive, persistent, resistant to reform and that includes the occasional military coup. Experience has shown that a military coup is rarely effective at fixing anything and usually makes matters worse because most African nations oppose military governments and refuse to support or cooperate with them when they occur in a nearby country. There is a similar response by foreign aid donors, who halt aid until democracy is restored.

Foreign aid is crucial in Africa because corruption limits the amount of money governments can spend on essential infrastructure, health or food aid programs. That means, when a coup takes place, the new military government finds itself isolated, criticized and denied most forms of foreign aid or cooperation. In Niger that meant the air space over Niger was closed and surrounding nations closed their borders with Niger. The coup leaders were isolated, criticized and left with few options other than abandoning their effort to make their version of local government work. Some military governments last for years by creating a plausible, to most of the locals, external threat. Their neighbors and foreign aid donors usually quickly denounce this fiction.

During the Cold War unelected governments could keep the aid coming by playing off the Western and communist donors against each other. After the Cold War ended in 1991, the only donors left were Western democracies. Dictatorships tend to be much less affluent and unable to provide much aid to anyone. Such an environment is common throughout Africa, especially where there are valuable raw materials that generate even more corruption. For example, Niger does not have any valuable natural resources and must import more than it exports. This imbalance is made possible by lots of foreign aid. When there is a coup, the food, medical and similar aid generally continues unless the new government tries to steal the aid.