Domino effect of coups in Africa, embarrassment in Paris

The focus on the military buildup in the Sahel and a tendency toward “business as usual” with autocratic leaders have seen France lose influence and credibility. — Bloomberg

WHAT Emmanuel Macron calls an “epidemic” of coups d’etat in Francophone Africa is spreading.

Not since the Arab Spring have Paris and other Western capitals seemed so overtaken by events, as a string of supposedly stable strongman regimes fall at the hands of ambitious military officers, often cheered on by a new generation disillusioned by unkept democratic promises.