Global Situation Board
Flashpoint · Africa

Coup-belt transitions and coastal West Africa (Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Benin, Togo, Madagascar)

2GuardedWatch■ stable
Assessed 15 September 2026

Assessment

The pattern is consolidation with closed political space rather than collapse: Doumbouya won the December 2025 presidential vote with 86.7 percent and his coalition took 93 of 147 seats in the May 31 legislative election, Guinea-Bissau's junta expanded executive power and cut parliament from 102 to 65 seats by a referendum approved by about 70 percent on Aug 30 ahead of a Dec 6 general election, and Benin's opposition holds no seats after the December coup attempt. Chad has jailed opposition leaders and is leaving the ICC. The main security risk is JNIM pressure on the coastal states, which pushed Togo to order four Super Tucano light attack aircraft. No new development was verified in the two days to Sept 15.

Recent, assessed

  • 2026-09-01NGOs demand a probe into six bodies found in a Guinea mass grave; Madagascar jails former Senate president Ravalomanana. aljazeera.com
  • 2026-08-30Guinea-Bissau referendum expands executive power and cuts parliament from 102 to 65 seats. en.wikipedia.org

Level history

Threat level after each research review12 September 2026 baseline: level 2; 12 September 2026 weekly review: level 2; 14 September 2026 weekly review: level 2; 15 September 2026 weekly review: level 21234512 September 2026, baseline: level 2, Watch, trend stable12 September 2026, weekly review: level 2, Watch, trend stable14 September 2026, weekly review: level 2, Watch, trend stable15 September 2026, weekly review: level 2, Watch, trend stable12 Sep14 Sep15 Septoday

Levels set by research reviews. A level set by hand is shown at the top of the page while it is in force and is not part of this history.

DateLevelStatusTrendReview
2026-09-152Watch■ stableWeekly review
2026-09-142Watch■ stableWeekly review
2026-09-122Watch■ stableWeekly review
2026-09-122Watch■ stableBaseline

Latest headlines 16

Matched to this entry by keyword from the pull of 19 Sep, 11:09 UTC. Not reviewed; some may be off-topic.