2010s in African history
Causes cited by the protesters included unemployment, the lack of housing, food-price inflation, corruption, restrictions on freedom of speech and poor living conditions.
The 2019–2021 Algerian protests, also called Revolution of Smiles,[23][24] began on 16 February 2019, six days after Abdelaziz Bouteflika announced his candidacy for a fifth presidential term in a signed statement.
The 2015 Burkinabé coup d'état was launched on 16 September 2015 in Burkina Faso, when members of the Regiment of Presidential Security (RSP) – a controversial autonomous military unit, formed under President Blaise Compaoré – detained the country's government.
Among those detained were the transitional President Michel Kafando, Prime Minister Yacouba Isaac Zida (who was also the former deputy commander of the RSP), and numerous members of the cabinet.
However, the junta failed to consolidate its authority across the country, and faced protests as well as intense pressure from regional leaders, and eventually from the regular army, to restore the transitional government.
In early March 2010, the run-up to the election was described as "explosive" due to a combination of demobilized former combatants and violence between youth activists in the ruling CNDD-FDD and opposition FRODEBU.
On May 13, 2015, a coup d'état was attempted, led by Major General Godefroid Niyombare, while President Nkurunziza was in Tanzania attending an emergency conference about the situation in the country.
Unconfirmed videos released over social media depicted a variety of violent scenes, including demonstrators "parading the dead body of an activist, barricades set ablaze, [and] police brutally beating protesters and firing tear gas against the crowds".
The Central African Republic Civil War arose when a new coalition of varied rebel groups, known as Séléka, accused the government of failing to abide by the peace agreements[61] and captured many towns at the end of 2012.
[86] Opposition party Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) called for a boycott of the elections in protest against the trial of former President Laurent Gbagbo by the International Criminal Court.
General elections were held in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on December 30, 2018, to determine a successor to President Kabila,[100] Félix Tshisekedi (UDPS) won with 38.6% of the vote, defeating another opposition candidate, Martin Fayulu, and Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, backed by the ruling party PPRD.
The military arrested Morsi and Muslim Brotherhood leaders,[124] and declared Chief Justice of the Supreme Constitutional Court Adly Mansour as the interim president of Egypt.
Ensuing protests in favour of Morsi were violently suppressed culminating with the dispersal and massacre of pro-Morsi sit-ins on August 14, 2013, amid ongoing unrest; journalists,[125] and several hundred protestors were killed by police and military force.
In the undemocratic 2018 presidential election, Sisi faced only nominal opposition (a pro-government supporter, Moussa Mostafa Moussa) after the military arrest of Sami Anan and his enforced disappearance afterwards,[130][131][132][133] threats made to Ahmed Shafik with old corruption charges and an alleged sex tape,[134][135][136] and the withdrawal of Khaled Ali and Mohamed Anwar El-Sadat due to the overwhelming obstacles and violations made by the elections committee.
Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior was placed under house arrest by soldiers, who also detained Army Chief of Staff Zamora Induta.
"[183] The First Libyan Civil War was ignited by protests in Benghazi beginning on Tuesday, 15 February 2011, which led to clashes with security forces that fired on the crowd.
[184] The protests escalated into a rebellion that spread across the country,[185] with the forces opposing Gaddafi establishing an interim governing body, the National Transitional Council.
The United Nations Security Council passed an initial resolution on 26 February, freezing the assets of Gaddafi and his inner circle and restricting their travel, and referred the matter to the International Criminal Court for investigation.
[188][189] Throughout the conflict, rebels rejected government offers of a ceasefire and efforts by the African Union to end the fighting because the plans set forth did not include the removal of Gaddafi.
[194] Elections were held in July 2012 to a General National Congress (GNC), which took power a month later, charged with organising a constituent assembly for authoring Libya's new constitution.
The House of Representatives (or Council of Deputies) was in control of eastern and central Libya and had the loyalty of the Libyan National Army (LNA), and was supported by airstrikes by Egypt and the UAE.
[195][197] Rajoelina heads the governing Highest Transitional Authority (HAT), an interim junta established following the military-backed coup d'état against then President Marc Ravalomanana in March 2009.
The National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), an organization fighting to make this area of Mali an independent homeland for the Tuareg people, had taken control of the region by April 2012.
French Armed Forces and members of the African Union helped the government regain control of the area, and a peace agreement was signed in February 2015.
Soldiers attacked the presidential palace in Niamey under weapons fire at midday and captured President Mamadou Tandja, who was chairing a government meeting at the time.
[205] Later in the day, the rebels announced on television the formation of the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy (CSRD),[206][207] headed by chef d'escadron Salou Djibo.
[208] The coup followed a year-long political crisis in Niger related to President Tandja's efforts to extend his mandate when his second term was originally scheduled to end.
[214] The African Union deployed a 12,000 member peace force including soldiers from Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, and Uganda, over the objections of President Salva Kiir.
[221] A period of civil resistance characterized by riots and unrest took place throughout the nation following the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi on 17 December 2011 and fueled by high unemployment, corruption, political repression and poor living conditions forcing President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to flee the country ending his 23-year rule over Tunisia.
[228][229] A political crisis evolved in Tunisia following the assassination of leftist leader Mohamed Brahmi in late July 2013, during which the country's mainly secular opposition organized several protests against the ruling Troika alliance that was dominated by Rashid al-Ghannushi's Islamist Ennahda Movement.
