Coup Belt

The Coup Belt is a modern geopolitical concept and neologism that emerged during the 2020s, describing a West African and Central African region marked by a frequent succession of military takeovers. The belt is understood to take in eight countries, Burkina Faso, Chad, Gabon, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, and Sudan, spanning the Sahel, West Africa, and Central Africa in what has been described as a continuous chain stretching between the east and west coasts of the continent following the 2023 coup in Niger. The term arose from a concentration of coups d'état in the region during the early 2020s, including military takeovers in Mali in 2020 and 2021, and in Guinea, Sudan, and Burkina Faso, which prompted international observers to adopt the label for the unstable zone. The coups have shared common threads, with militaries typically citing their governments' handling of Islamist insurgencies or civil unrest, and resentment of French colonial influence, with several junta governments severing ties with France and turning toward Russia, Turkey, and other powers. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/