ECOWAS and the lessons from the recent coup in Mali

When, on 22 March, 2012, a group of junior soldiers in Mali, led by Captain Sanogo announced the toppling of the democratically elected regime of Amadou Toumani Touré, a number of Africanists who thought that military consciousness had receded for good in the continent, had a rude awakening. The Afro-pessimism of the 1980s and 1990s had been gradually turning into Afro-optimism, even if grudgingly, despite resilient challenges. Analysts who believe that Africa is beginning to get its political act together and that given the current conjuncture of local and global forces, democratic ethos are becoming firmly implanted in the continent received a rude awakening. The article reviews the coup in Mali and the lessons to be drawn from it.