African headlines in 2021: from coups d’état to tragic deaths of leaders
The year 2021 has come to an end but let’s reflect on the news across African countries in 2021. The cascade of putsch on the continent, not to mention the grim reaper who has done a lot of harm on the continent, are among the significant truths that have distinguished African news over the last 12 months.
In 2021, certain nations on the continent had earned a name for themselves. Mali, Guinea, Ethiopia, Algeria, and Morocco are the five countries we’ve chosen. The second coup d’état in Mali, carried out by Colonel Assimi Gota on May 24, 2021, catapulted the nation to the forefront.
The Malian authorities’ stance on the French presence sparked heated debates between Paris and Bamako, which took place against the background of talks with the Russian corporation Wagner after announcing the Barkhane force’s pullout.
Guinea has similarly split public opinion after Lieutenant-Colonel Mamady Doumbouya detained President Alpha Condé on September 5, 2021. The great majority of Guineans welcomed the coup, which came after the old President’s third term was brutally rejected. Since then, all eyes have been on the junta, waiting to see how they would lead the transition.
Ethiopia has been a topic of discussion since the commencement of the conflict in Tigray in November 2020. Because the territory is sealed off from the rest of the world, the fight takes place in quiet, away from the cameras.
Following the federal soldiers’ initial wins in three weeks of fighting, the TPLF was able to stage a comeback in June 2021
For many weeks, tensions between Algeria and Morocco dominated the headlines. Western Sahara is in doubt. The two nations had severed diplomatic ties and were on the verge of violent conflict. Outside of Morocco, Algeria and France have had rocky relations throughout the recent quarter. Emmanuel Macron’s remarks in Algeria are in dispute, which enraged and alienated Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune.
Death of prominent people
There have been several notable Africans who have died in the year 2021. In only one month, the Ivorian Prime Minister, Hamed Bakayoko, the Tanzanian President, John Magufuli, the former Malagasy President, Didier Ratsiraka, are all struck down to death.
On April 20, 2021, Idriss Déby, Marshal of Chad, fell on the battlefield under the bullets of the rebels of the Front for Alternation and Concord in Chad (FACT). As if he was only waiting for the death of his killer to die in turn, Hissène Habré joined Idriss Déby in the afterlife, four months later, on August 24, 2021.
But before Hissène Habré, Kenneth Kaunda, the father of Zambian freedom, died on June 17, 2021. Then there’s the September wave, which began on September 8 with Amobé Mévégué, followed by Charles Konan Banny on September 10, and Abdelaziz Bouteflika on September 17, 2021.
In December, Africa lost two more notable figures: Senegalese Lamine Diack and Desmond Tutu, the anti-apartheid stalwart who died on December 26, 2021.
We pray for the wind of blessings and prosperity in Africa in 2022.
