KIGALI, Rwanda

The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) on Tuesday condemned the increasing coups on the African continent.

Much of Africa’s Sahel region has been battling growing unrest which has prompted a spate of coups in Mali, Guinea and Chad since 2020.

The latest coup occurred in Burkina Faso last month when military leader Lt Col. Paul-Henri Damiba was deposed by the army led by Cap. Ibrahim Traore, in the country’s second coup in a year.

“As a community of democrats the IPU cannot condone any assumption of power by military force,” said Martin Chungong, the secretary general of the IPU, while opening their 145th assembly in Rwanda’s capital Kigali.

“A coup is never an appropriate response to instability or terrorism, the right of the people to freely express themselves through elections must be safeguarded above everything else,” Chungong said.

Chungong noted that the tensions and conflicts simmering on the continent are undermining democratic institutions.

“Democracy for everyone; there is a need for everyone to have a voice in democracy. Unstable and compromised democracies are holding back the social, political and economic development of our societies,” he added.

Underlining the value of dialogue, Chungong called on parliaments to step forward and strive to identify dynamic and innovative solutions to bring back lasting peace, discourage military responses to instability and support sustainable development across Africa.

“We must give dialogue a chance and parliamentary diplomacy as a contribution to conflict resolution,” he said.