The Coup Trap
NEED TO KNOW
The Coup Trap
BURKINA FASO
When a military junta seized power more than two years ago in Burkina Faso, the coup leaders promised to end the violence and fighting that were plaguing the country.
They failed.
Islamist fighters now hold sway over 40 percent of the landlocked West African country, according to ACAPS, a research firm. Jihadists have also killed more than 2,000 people this year, an almost 75 percent increase over the rate before September 2022, when the junta staged its coup against a leader who had taken power only nine months earlier in another coup, World Politics Review added.
These are some of the reasons that some people in Burkina Faso have lost faith in their armed forces.
A video now circulating in the country, for example, depicts Volunteers for the Defense of the Fatherland, a government-sanction militia group, hacking corpses with machetes, while “gloating” on camera, the BBC reported. The military under Burkina Faso’s interim president, Capt. Ibrahim Traore, is now investigating the matter.
News in the country now often centers on lethal attacks where the central government and its militia allies have not been able to defend their positions.
Last month, al Qaeda-linked terrorists killed as many as 600 people in the remote northern town of Barsalogho. CNN dubbed the attack one of the deadliest in Africa in decades, describing the violence as another example of how the region – called the Sahel – has become increasingly unstable in recent years.
Investigators at Human Rights Watch later concluded that Burkinabe troops could have prevented the attacks if they had not forced civilian laborers to dig a trench around a military base in the town, creating a target for the jihadists, and then leaving those civilians defenseless.
The same al Qaeda-linked militants killed more than 100 Burkinabe soldiers in the town of Mansila near the border with Niger, added Al Jazeera. Another 150 people died when terrorists attacked the northeastern town of Manni, wrote the Catholic News Agency.
Traore bears responsibility for these losses. He came to power in 2022, a year when Burkina Faso saw two coups and three presidencies. He has retained power, rather than setting up democratic elections or another transfer of power as he promised in the early days of his administration, saying that the security situation in the country has warranted it.
Writing in Geopolitical Intelligence Services, African affairs expert Teresa Nogueira Pinto described Traore’s situation as a “coup trap” where juntas come under pressure to solve the problems that weakened the previous government they overturned.
In Burkina Faso, where the junta has lost control over half of its territory and where one in four Burkinabe now requires humanitarian aid, the coup has had disastrous consequences.
“Over the past decade, and particularly in the last four years, militant insurgency has upended security and humanitarian conditions in the Sahel, now considered the global epicenter of jihadism,” she wrote. “Amid regional turmoil and domestic political instability, Burkina Faso – until recently viewed as a beacon of stability – has become the epicenter of religious extremism in the Sahel.”
THE WORLD, BRIEFLY
Sidelined
GEORGIA / ABKHAZIA
Protesters in Abkhazia stormed the parliament and refused to leave Sunday, part of protests that have broken out in the Georgian breakaway region over a proposed investment agreement that would allow Russian nationals to buy property in the territory, Reuters reported.
On Friday, protesters used a truck to breach the gates of the government compound in the regional capital of Sukhumi, which houses the legislature and presidential office. Over the weekend, clashes between demonstrators and police left at least eight people injured. The unrest forced lawmakers to postpone debate on the contentious measure.
The investment agreement was signed last month between Russian Economy Minister Maxim Reshetnikov and his Abkhazian counterpart, Kristina Ozgan. Critics and opposition leaders fear that the deal would inflate housing prices for locals and further entrench Moscow’s influence in the territory, according to Newsweek.
In response, Abkhazian President Aslan Bzhania said he was drafting an order to withdraw the proposed measure from consideration. He also announced he would resign and hold snap elections if protesters vacated the government buildings.
Demonstrators said the occupation was not against the region’s close ties with Russia, but accused Bzhania of “trying to use these relations for his own selfish interests (and) manipulating them for the sake of strengthening his regime.”
Abkhazia proclaimed its independence from Georgia following wars in the early 1990s Georgia subsequently lost control over the territory after a brief war with Russia in 2008. Russia also recognizes another breakaway region in Georgia, South Ossetia, as an independent state.
While the Georgian government and much of the world consider Abkhazia part of its territory, Moscow considers it an independent state. Still, many of the region’s approximately 245,000 residents worry it operates largely as a client state of Russia.
Russia has maintained military bases in Abkhazia and bolstered its economy, with Abkhazia serving as a popular destination for Russian tourists.
Following this week’s unrest, Moscow expressed concern over the “crisis situation” and advised Russian citizens to avoid travel to the territory.
A Promise, Fulfilled
GABON
Gabonese voters cast their ballots in favor of a new constitution in a referendum over the weekend that would also see the Central African country end the transitional military government that deposed long-time President Ali Bongo Ondimba last year, Africanews reported.
Provisional results on Sunday showed a 91.8 percent “yes” vote based on turnout of just under 54 percent, Gabon’s interior minister said on state television.
Saturday’s referendum came more than a year after the army led by Gen. Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema seized power shortly after Bongo was reelected as president in the August 2023 elections. the Voice of America reported. The army and opposition parties said the election was rigged.
The coup ended the rule of the Bongo dynasty which had controlled the Central African nation for nearly 60 years, starting with Omar Bongo, who died in 2009 and power was handed to his son, Ali.
Nguema – who became head of the military government – vowed to hand power back to civilians after a two-year transition and urged voters to support the new constitution, Al Jazeera added.
Analysts said the new charter would prevent political dynasties as it would bar the president’s relatives from succeeding him. The draft constitution also increases the president’s term from five to seven years and imposes a two-term limit.
While some citizens were pleased with the provisions, opposition politicians and civil society groups expressed concern over some changes that would give more power to the president. These include removing the post of prime minister and being granted the power to dissolve parliament, as well as hiring and firing vice presidents.
Others also warned that the draft constitution was tailor-made for a strongman to be able to remain in power, noting that junta leader Nguema is not barred from running.
Local media reported that early results showed that a majority of voters approved the new charter. The final results will be released by the constitutional court – although officials did not provide a specific timeline.
After the results, Gabon will revise its electoral laws in February and establish an elections management body, Nguema said.
The oil-rich country is expected to hold presidential, parliamentary, and local elections in August 2025.
No Exceptions
ISRAEL
Israel’s defense ministry began issuing draft notices to ultra-Orthodox Jews over the weekend, a move aimed at reversing the long-standing exemptions that have sparked national debate while easing the burden on the military fighting in Gaza and Lebanon, the Times of Israel reported.
Defense Minister Israel Katz upheld the decision that was first initiated by his predecessor, Yoav Gallant.
The move marks the first significant conscription effort targeting ultra-Orthodox individuals since a June high court ruling invalidated the exemptions for the community – also known as the Haredim.
The court said there was no legal framework for Haredi yeshiva students to avoid the military service that is required of most other Israelis.
Observers noted that Katz’s approval reflects rising pressure to distribute the military burden more evenly as Israel’s wars stretch its resources. The military has said it needs 10,000 more soldiers.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) sent 1,000 of 7,000 planned draft notices, beginning the screening process for new recruits. The military announced the move would include support to help recruits maintain their religious lifestyle during service.
While opposition leaders and politicians welcomed the decision, ultra-Orthodox figures fiercely condemned the orders, maintaining their decades-long resistance to conscription.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews – who make up about 12 percent of Israel’s population – have historically supported Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had promised to preserve their exemptions.
Now, analysts say the decision to draft Haredim could destabilize Netanyahu’s coalition, which relies heavily on the ultra-Orthodox.
“(Netanyahu’s) Likud (party) has decided to declare war on the ultra-Orthodox,” a senior official of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism said.
DISCOVERIES
The Four Kings
For nearly two centuries, scientists believed that the king cobra reigned in parts of South and Southeast Asia as a single species.
Now, a new study found that the world’s longest venomous snake is not unique but four genetically separate species.
“I feel like we created history,” the study’s lead researcher, Pogiri Gowri Shankar, told Mongabay.
The mistaken assumption dates back almost two centuries. In 1836, Danish physician and zoologist Theodore Cantor first described the king cobra as a single species, named Ophiophagus hannah.
Fast forward to 2021, Gowri Shankar and his colleagues conducted a DNA analysis on the snake, where they reported four distinct populations, with a one to four percent genetic variation.
“Between humans and chimpanzees, there is only one percent gene variation,” Gowri Shankar told the Deccan Herald, an Indian newspaper. “So, the one percent to four percent difference among king cobras makes them four different species.”
But they didn’t stop there.
In new research, the researchers conducted deeper investigations by looking at tissue samples from various king cobras in the wild, museums and zoos. After closely analyzing the physical traits, colors and dental characteristics, they identified four separate species occupying different countries and regions, Live Science noted.
One species is the Northern king cobra (O. hannah), widespread across the sub-Himalayan region, eastern India, Myanmar, and Indochina: It has dark-edged yellow bands and 18 to 21 teeth.
In the Malay Peninsula and Greater Sunda Islands, there is the Sunda king cobra (O. bungarus), often unbanded or with narrow pale bands without dark edges.
Meanwhile in India, the Western Ghats king cobra (O. kaalinga) slithers around the Western Ghats mountain range. This creature has no dark edges on its pale body bands.
Finally, the Luzon king cobra (O. salvatana) is found only on Luzon Island in the Philippines. It’s recognized by its distinct angular pale bands.
Pogiri Shankar added that there could be more undiscovered species hiding on small, remote islands.
Still, the authors hope that the findings will help improve conservation strategies for each species, particularly as they face threats from habitat destruction, the illegal wildlife trade and human activity.
“This study will immediately help us in assessing which species of king cobras needs immediate attention … and in studying the venom composition of these species,” Pogiri Shankar told the Herald.