The African Union says it will not tolerate military takeovers on the continent.
According to the Union, coup mongers on the continent should rather embrace peace and democracy geared to development in their various countries.
The African Union’s Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace, and Security, Bankole Adeoye made the call ahead of the 2nd AU Reflection Forum on Unconstitutional Changes of Government expected to take place on March 18, 2024.
“Over the past ten years, the African Union has continued through our leaders to champion democracy, constitutionalism, the rule of law, as well as sustainable development, but the multiplicity of challenges remains terrorism, violent extremism, transnational organized crime and poverty and to address this, we must all frontally and robustly defend democracy.
“It is necessary to restate that democracy, with its shortcomings, remains the best form of governance and we have always asked why. It is inclusive and we all have a role to play in safeguarding democracy and all of us in Africa must rally for democracy,” Mr. Adeoye stated.
He continued: “The new trend posed by military rulers to return our continent to its past will not be tolerated and accepted and that is why the African Union in March 2022, decided to come to Accra to rally all actors to defend and uphold democracy. So in 2022, we came up with the Accra Declaration, which was endorsed by our heads of state.”
