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Politics
Alexander John Thurston, Asst Professor, Political Science, University of Cincinnati

After a fourth coup in West Africa, it's time to rethink international response

Demonstrators hold a picture of Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba who led the coup against Burkina Faso president Roch Kabore. Photo by Olympia De Maismont/AFP via Getty Images

The latest coup in Burkina Faso is the fourth in Africa’s Sahel region in less than 18 months. The other three were carried out in August 2020 in Mali, in April 2021 in Chad, and Mali’s “coup within a coup” last May.

Yet, European and American leaders currently appear more concerned with the presence of Russian-linked Wagner Group mercenaries than with the region’s core political problems.

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