African leaders driven from power

Paris, France | AFP | Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, who resigned on Tuesday, is the latest in a long list of African leaders forced from power by coups, rebels and popular uprisings since 2010.

Aged 93, Mugabe stepped down days after a military takeover and following unprecedented demonstrations against his rule.

– 2010 –

– NIGER: On February 18 president Mamadou Tandja is overthrown in a military coup after changing the constitution in order to remain in power beyond two terms. He had been voted into office in 1999.

– 2011 –

– TUNISIA: After 23 years in power, and under massive popular pressure, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali flees to Saudi Arabia with his family on January 14.

– EGYPT: Hosni Mubarak resigns on February 11, after widespread protests, ending his 30-year reign and handing power to the army.

– IVORY COAST: On April 11 Laurent Gbagbo, in power since a controversial 2000 election, is arrested after more than four-months of crisis caused by his refusal to recognise the victory of Alassane Ouattara in the 2010 presidential election.

– LIBYA: Dictator Moamer Kadhafi is captured and killed on October 20 after nearly 42 years in power, nine months after NATO-backed rebels rose up against his regime.

– 2012 –

– MALI: Mutinous soldiers overthrow the Bamako government and detain president Amadou Toumani Toure on March 22, precipitating the fall of the north to Islamist rebels allied with Al-Qaeda.

– GUINEA BISSAU: A coup takes place on April 12 between two rounds of a presidential poll with troops ousting president Raimundo Pereira and the former prime minister.

– 2013 –

– CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Ten years after seizing power, General Francois Bozize flees on March 24 when rebels from the Muslim-dominated group Seleka seize the presidential palace, unleashing a bloody conflict with mainly Christian militias.

– EGYPT: On July 3 the military ousts Egypt’s first democratically elected leader, the Islamist Mohamed Morsi, after large demonstrations against his one-year rule.

– 2014 –

– BURKINA FASO: President Blaise Compaore, who came to power in a 1987 coup, flees the country on October 31 after being ousted in a revolt sparked by his efforts to extend his 27-year hold on power. Less than a year later, interim president Michel Kafando will be overthrown, but then reinstated a week later.

– 2017 –

– GAMBIA: Yahya Jammeh, who came to power in a coup in 1994, leaves the country on January 21, handing power to Adama Barrow, winner of December 2016 elections. He acts under the threat of military intervention by troops from neighbouring nations.