While the recent coup in Niger is the most recent in Africa, it is not the first and will most likely not be the last. Military coups are nothing new on the African continent. Since 1950, Africa has experienced 214 attempted or successful coups, the most of any area, with 106 of them succeeding. While in power, some coup leaders were unable to do anything important because they were immediately deposed; others were able to transition into civilian presidents; and yet others were able to revolutionise their countries and, by extension, Africa. In this video, we’ll look at a cross section of ten African leaders that rose to power through coups.

Denis Sassou Nguesso
President Denis Sassou of the Republic of Congo has been the current leader of Congo since 1997 till date, although that was not the first time he came into power. The president first came into power in 1977 after Marien Ngouabi, the president at the time, was assassinated. History is not really certain about who assassinated Ngouabi. While official media stated that the assassination was conducted by a commando group led by Capt. Barthelemey Kikadidi, some others claimed that the assassination was plotted by military officers within the close circle of power. So, it’s not exactly clear if Denis was involved in the assination but regardless, a Military Committee of the Congolese Labor Party composed of 11 officers, led by Major Sassou Nguessou immediately took power and repealed the 1973 constitution with Sassou acting as interim head of state from 18 March to 6 April 1977. He then conceded his position to general Joachim Yhombi-Opango who became president. Two years later in 1979, Denis Sassou N’Guesso was elected president of the PCT following the Congress of February 5 and thus began his reign as president from 1979 until 1991 when he lost the presidential elections in 1992. He came back again as head of state after he won the 1997 elections, repealing the 1992 Constitution, and replacing it with a “Fundamental Act” that concentrated power in the President’s hands. Since 1979 when Sassou first came into power till date, he has been in power for an accumulated 36 years making him one of the longest-serving presidents in Africa.

Colonel Mamady Doumbouya
Colonel Mamady Dounbouya is the current serving president of Guinea who came into power in 2021 through a coup de tat instigated by him and in which the president of Guinea, Alpha Condé, was detained without violence. Prior to the coup, Mamady Doumbouya had served in the military for 15 years where he was first a French legionnaire holding the rank of corporal before he returned to Guinea to lead the Special Forces Group, an elite military unit created by President Alpha Condé. In 2018, he met Assimi Goïta, from Mali, in Burkina Faso at a US Army training session for regional special forces commanders and a few years later both he and Assimi Goïta would later launch military coups against their governments. After the coup Doumbouya issued a broadcast on state television declaring that his faction had dissolved the government and constitution and announced that they had seized power because of rampant corruption, a disregard for human rights, and economic mismanagement by Conde and his administration. The Conde administration was also accused of nepotism and tribalism. In justifying the military’s actions, Doumbouya quoted the former Ghanaian president Jerry Rawlings, who said that “if the people are crushed by their elites, it is up to the army to give the people their freedom.”The coup was widely welcomed among the vast majority of Guineans. Since he was sworn in as interim president Doumbouya has clamped down on corruption in the country, trimmed the army’s senior ranks and promoted younger fellow officers and also has plans to move the country to civilian rule.

Yoweri Museveni
President Museveni became President of the Republic of Uganda on January 29, 1986 after leading a successful five-year liberation struggle. Previous to the struggle of 1981-1986, Museveni had been one of the leaders in the anti-Amin resistance of 1971-1979 that had led to the fall of that monstrous regime. When Idi Amin came to power in Uganda in 1971, Museveni returned to Tanzania in exile. There he founded the Front for National Salvation, which helped overthrow Amin in 1979. Museveni held posts in transitional governments and in 1980 ran for president of Uganda. When the elections, widely believed to have been rigged, were won by Milton Obote, Museveni and former president Yusufu Lule formed the National Resistance Movement (NRM); Museveni led the NRM’s armed group, the National Resistance Army, which waged a guerrilla war against Obote’s regime. The resistance eventually prevailed, and on January 26, 1986, Museveni declared himself president of Uganda. On January 29th he was sworn in as president and during the ceremony he said that “This is not a mere change of guard, it is a fundamental change,”. Since 1986, Museveni has been the president of Uganda, making him the longest-serving president in Uganda. As president, Museveni has helped to revitalize the country, and provide political stability, a growing economy, and an improved infrastructure. He has also instituted a number of capitalist reforms, supported a free press and implemented measures to combat AIDS.

Assimi Goita
Like Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, Assimi Goita of Mali came into power in 2021 through a military coup but unlike him, Assimi Goita instigated two coups in the space of 9 months. The first coup was organized on August 18th, 2020 by the Malian army and launched against President Ibrahim Babacar Keita following the demonstrations and protests against his government. The protesters accused the government of corruption and failure to quell the armed rebellion in the north. The coup leaders formed the National Committee for the Salvation of the People which was headed by Assimi Goita. Pressure from ECOWAS and the international community led the coup leaders to appoint civilians, Bah N’daw as President, and Moctar Ouane as Prime Minister while Assimi Goita became vice president. However, relations between the civilians and military became tense over the next few months coupled with Islamic insurgency raging in the north.

And so, on May 24th, 2021 the military acted again with Assimi Goita leading the coup. He seized power and detained President Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane. According to Goita, he instigated the coup because President Ndaw was attempting to “sabotage” the transition to democracy. However, according to some reports, the coup was initiated because President Ndaw failed to consult him about a cabinet reshuffle. On 28 May 2021, the constitutional court declared him interim president of Mali and the court ruling stated that Goïta should carry the title “president of the transition, head of state” to “lead the transition process to its conclusion”.

Blaise Compaore
Known for his betrayal of the widely loved icon, Thomas Sankara, Blaise Compaore served as the second president of Burkina Faso from 1987 to 2014. In October 1987, he led a coup d’état with Jean-Baptiste Lingani and Capt. Henri Zongo, during which Sankara who was president at the time was killed, although he claimed that it was not intentional. Zongo and Lingani held prominent positions in the regime until 1989, when, after disagreeing with Compaoré over economic issues, they were accused of plotting against him and were subsequently executed, leaving Compaoré free to follow his own agenda. While in power, he introduced a policy of ‘rectification’, overturning the leftist and Third Worldist policies pursued by Sankara. He won elections in 1991, 1998, 2005, and 2010, in what was considered unfair circumstances making him the longest-serving president in Burkina Faso. He attempted to amend the constitution to extend his 27-year term however it failed and led to the 2014 Burkinabé uprising. On 31 October 2014, Compaoré resigned, whereupon he fled to the Ivory Coast. 8 years later he was found guilty by a special military tribunal of complicity in Sankara’s murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Ibrahim Traore
Currently, the youngest serving President in the world, Ibrahim Traore has been the interim leader of Burkina Faso since the 30 September 2022 coup d’état which ousted interim president Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba. Prior to this coup, Traore was part of the group of army officers that supported the January 2022 Burkina Faso coup d’état that brought Paul Henri Damiba into power. Under the new government, little improvement was seen by many members of the military. Those stationed in remote areas often did not receive their pay on time. In mid-September 2022, eleven soldiers were killed in the north of the country by insurgents. This sparked rage among many soldiers and so, Traore rallied the soldiers and led a coup against Damiba, who fled the country. Traoré later explained that he and other officers had tried to get Damiba to “refocus” on the rebellion, but eventually opted to overthrow him as “his ambitions were diverting away from what they set out to do”. In the direct aftermath of the coup, Traoré declared himself the new head of the Patriotic Movement for Safeguard and Restoration. Traore’s government seems to mirror the iconic leader of Burkina Faso, Thomas Sankara. His actions and speeches hint that he is anti-imperialist and anti-neocolonialist. Like Mali and Guinea Presidents, he expelled French forces assisting in fighting the local insurgency from Burkina Faso and supported the diversification of Burkina Faso’s international partnerships.

Jerry Rawlings
Jerry Rawlings, former head of state and President of the Republic of Ghana is one of the most admired African leaders both in Africa and beyond for his charisma, sincerity, drive, patriotism, and participatory leadership approach. He is known for his anti-corruption credentials, was seen as a champion for the poor, and was able to revive Ghana’s failing economy. He led two coups, the first was in 1979, with the purported aim of purging the military and public life of widespread corruption. He and his Armed Forces Revolutionary Council ruled for 112 days, during which time the former heads of state, Gen. Ignatius Kutu Acheampong and Lieut. Gen. Frederick W.K. Akuffo, were tried and executed. Rawlings then yielded power to a freely elected civilian president, Hilla Limann. The second coup was on December 31, 1981, after two years of weak civilian rule during which Ghana’s economy continued to deteriorate. Rawlings overthrew Limann’s government, accusing it of leading the nation “down to total economic ruin.” He then established a Provisional National Defense Council as the new government and imprisoned Limann and some 200 other politicians. He led the country as a military junta from 1981 until introducing multi-party elections in 1992, when he was first elected president. He stepped down in 2001 after serving two terms but continued to wield a strong influence in the country until his death in 2020.

Gamal Abdel Nasser
Nasser is another prominent African leader who despite coming into power through a coup is widely regarded as an exceptional leader in Egypt. Gamel was at the forefront of the worldwide movement to resist the domination of the superpowers, called non-Alignment, which denied alliance with either the U.S.’s Containment Policy, or the Soviet Union’s systems of influence. In fact his entry into power wasn’t regarded as a coup but as a revolution. On July 23, 1952, Nasser and 89 other Free Officers staged an almost bloodless coup d’état, ousting the monarchy of King Farouk I. After the coup, the country was taken over by a Revolutionary Command Council of 11 officers controlled by Nasser, with Major General Muḥammad Naguib as the puppet head of state. For more than a year, Nasser was behind the scenes controlling things but a series of intrigue brought him out of the shadows and he declared himself prime minister and later President of Egypt after the elections in 1965. As he took control, Egypts prospects began to look bright. He nationalized the Suez Canal, built the Aswan High Dam, accelerated industrialization and even gave voice to women. He was truly an exceptional leader and will forever be remembered in Egypt.

Muammar Gaddafi
The most popular on this list, Muammar Gaddafi was a Libyan revolutionary and African leader who transformed Libya, defied Western powers’ bodly, and tried to make Africa a state that would rival the West. He was an eager disciple of President Gamel Nasser of Egypt. On September 1, 1969, Qaddafi seized control of the government in a military coup that deposed King Idris. After which he was named commander in chief of the armed forces and chairman of Libya’s new governing body, the Revolutionary Command Council. Although he was unpredictable, eccentric, and controversial Gaddafi was a true nationalist and Pan-Africanist. While in power, he evacuated US and British military bases from Libya, exiled most members of the native Italian and Jewish communities, and nationalised all foreign-owned petroleum assets in the country in 1973. His government began devoting funding towards giving free education, health care, and housing to all citizens. Under Gaddafi, the country’s per capita income increased to nearly US$11,000, ranking it fifth in Africa. Gaddafi dreamed of a United States of Africa with one currency, one government and one military sadly his dream wasn’t actualized as he was killed in 2011.

Thomas Sankara
One of the greatest African leaders to have ever lived, Thomas Sankara was a Marxist revolutionary and Pan-Africanist who served as President of Burkina Faso from 1983 to 1987. He was a charismatic and iconic leader who transformed Burkina Faso during his four years as President and gave his life fighting neocolonialism. Often called “Africa’s Che Guevara”, Sankara came into power in 1983 after a coup was organized on his behalf while he was under house arrest. The coup was led by his friend Blaise Compaore who was later found guilty of his murder. Sankara became President of the Republic of Upper Volta at the age of 33, launching social, ecological, and economic policies and renaming the country Burkina Faso from the French colonial name Upper Volta. His foreign policy was anti-imperialist, and he refused funding from organisations like the International Monetary Fund. His internal policies included famine prevention, agrarian self-sufficiency, land reform, and the suspension of rural poll taxes, as well as a statewide literacy campaign and a meningitis, yellow fever, and measles vaccination programme. He was greatly loved and respected by all as a true example of a great leader until he was killed on October 15, 1987.