Presidential Extensions in Africa 1960 to 2022: Impact on Politics, Peace, and Security

Abstract

There have been 35 presidential extensions across 24 countries in Africa from 1960 to 2022, done through four categories of extension mechanisms. Most extensions occur in francophone countries, where heads-of-state govern for up to four decades and beyond, propped up by French foreign policy pacts or bilateral defense agreements which station French bases that ward of insurrections against perennial presidents. This has gestated political discontent and festered conflicts in francophone territory, to the point of being conflict-prone and terrorist enclaves. In the process, francophone Africa has attracted US drone bases for supposed counterterrorism, while Wagner mercenaries have taken up roles in countries where French Legions failed and departed. As a result, African countries have become willing or unwilling actors in the foreign policy agendas of the French, Americans, and Russians whose legions they host. Meanwhile, the African Union has the institutional frameworks to address the phenomenon of presidential extensions, but the political will is not forthcoming because the AU Assembly itself consists of several incorrigible presidents who are governing in extensions and do not want change.