Date:  30 August 2023
Time:  14:00 - 15:30 SAST
Venue: UWC Kader Asmal Moot Court & ZOOM                

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Abstract:

In the last few years, there has been a resurgence of military coups in West Africa. In Guinea, Mali, and Burkina Faso, one after the other, democratically elected governments are succumbing to military coups. The latest casualty is Niger and there is growing anxiety about a regional “democratic rollback” reversing over two decades of consolidation of democratic norms and institutions. Understandably, this democratic relapse has attracted condemnations from both regional and the international community. In keeping terms with its tradition in this aspect, the regional bloc ECOWAS has threatened to use force to restore the democratically elected government. While ECOWAS is one of the only few regional organizations with the normative and legal frameworks and robust practice on the use of force to reverse unconstitutional change of government, the current situation is way more complex than the facts otherwise suggest. This seminar examines a number of legal and political issues that underlie the resurgence of military coups in the region by situating the return of authoritarianism in West Africa in its broader regional contexts. The presentation will then assess the significance of the Niger coup and its present and future implications for the region, Africa and the wider world.
 

Speaker:

John-Mark Iyi (PhD)

John-Mark Iyi is an Associate Professor and Director of the African Centre for Transnational Criminal Justice, (ACTCJ) University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa. His primary research interest focuses on the use of force by regional organisations, particularly ECOWAS and the African Union; and African perspectives in international law and he contributes to critical discourses in a wide range of contemporary international legal problems. He is the author of Humanitarian Intervention and the AU-ECOWAS Intervention Treaties under International Law: Towards a theory of Regional Responsibility to Protect (2016) Springer. His most recent publications include “Of Norms and Ambiguity: The Contested Authority of UN Security Council and African Union in the Use of Force in Africa” (2023) 83(1) Heidelberg Journal of International Law 91.


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