Africa is no stranger to coups de tat, with approximately 200 military coups happening on the continent. They are caused by a range of issues including political antagonism, tribalism, economic strife, greed for power and constitutional change from monarchy to a republic and so on.
Some coups happened because the military did not receive adequate funds for their existence and survival.
Burkina Faso has had the most coups at 10. Nigeria comes in second with eight coups and in third place is Burundi, Chad and Ghana with six coups each.
Here are Africa’s bloodiest coups.
Nigeria 1966
The Nigerian counter coup of 1966 is considered the country’s bloodiest coup. It started on January 1966 when Kaduna Nzeogwu-led soldiers assassinated 11 senior Nigerian politicians and two soldiers and kidnapping three others.
They had thought the coup would end the ethnic rivalries between the Northern and Eastern tribes, but it only made things worse. Army commander Major-General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, an Igbo, suppressed the January coup, but took over power himself
In July, a counter-coup was staged, resulting into the death of hundred non-commissioned officers and thousands of innocent civilians mostly of Eastern Nigeria origin. The coup staged Sani Abacha, Major Murtala Muhammed and current President Muhammadu Buhari and others.
The coup resulted in Nigeria’s civil war.
1990-01-01 11:13:00 (FILES) Undated photo of former president of Burundian Republic Melchior Ndadaye who was killed in a abortive military coup on 21 October 1993.
AFP PHOTO DABROWSKI
Burundi 1993
The failed coup attempt of 1993 saw the death of more than 100,000 Burundians. Then the newly-elected president, Melchior Ndadaye had been in office for three months when he was killed by the Tutsi extremists on October 21.
It is believed that Ndadaye was taken to a military camp under the guise of protection from a possible mutiny by sections of the army. Together with the president and vice president of the National Assembly and other cabinet members, Ndadaye was then killed.
Ndadaye’s death had dire ramifications across the country, with violence resulting into the death of at least 100,000 civilians.
The coup was later blamed on former president Major Pierre Buyoya who had been in power between 1987 and 1993. He was not able to come to power immediately as Francois Ngeze, the civilian politician installed as temporary head of state. He refused to support the coup leaders.
Equatorial Guinea, 1979
In August 1979, President Francisco Macías Nguema was overthrown by his nephew and current president Teodoro Obiang in a bloody coup.
When he was in power, Macias oversaw the killing of more than 30,000 people. He also ordered the murder of his family members including one of his nephews. Obiang, who was Macias deputy defence minister, instigated a coup with the help of the military and Cuban palace guards. It is reported that Spain and the United States also offered their support for Obiang.
Macias fled to his hometown and was protected by loyalist military officials. During this time at least 400 people were killed in the fight between the rival groups. Macias was later apprehended as he was trying to leave the country. He was charged with genocide and executed by firing squad.
