West Africa’s democratic gains seriously reversing?
Effectively dealing with crisis and growing insecurity is becoming a major challenge for many West African states nowadays.
One can quickly cite Mali with the recent military coup and rebel occupation of the north, Boko Haram’s bombings and shootings in Nigeria, hijacking of political power by Guinea Bissau’s security forces and Ivory Coast’s unsettled post election violent conflict.
Dr. Jibrin Ibrahim, an official of the Center for Democracy and Development in Abuja, Nigeria has said there are some other countries in the sub-region are sitting on a time bomb, even though they have democratically elected Presidents in office.
“But the reality on the ground is that there is a major problem of democratic regression in many other West African countries that is creating a huge potential for explosive violent conflicts,” Ibrabim told West Africa Democracy Radio (WADR).
But how can states in the sub-region be on top of the wave of insecurity? How grave is the danger that such developments pose for long-term peace and stability in West Africa? What’s responsible and does such instability represent a serious threat to democracy and can it reverse the democratic gains made so far?
Click audio below to listen to WADR’s Kara Thioune interview with Dr. Ibrahim:
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