and murithi mutiga is africa programme director at the conflict resolution, the icg, that s the international crisis group. that s our panel, welcome to you all, give them a round of applause. applause. and remember, you too can join the conversation. it s #bbcglobal0uestions. now, before we take our first question from our audience, i thought it would be a good idea to just give you a brief overview of the topic in hand, just to provide you with a bit of background about army coups and conflict in africa. so let s just watch this short film. what should happen when a coup is welcomed by the people? there was jubilation on the streets of conakry, the capital of guinea, six months ago, when the army ousted president alpha conde. there had been anger when he changed the rules to run for a third term, in what many described as a constitutional coup. the military in mali, and then more recently in burkina faso, both said they had no choice
sense of this, so. what is your answer? yeah, this is. it is a loaded question. what can the external partners do? again, this is very much an internal issue. through and through, make no mistake. it started as a law enforcement campaign that evolved into, now, all but a civil war. and i think what the west, or the international partners can do is assist the country to develop those agencies and capacity to again, within the constitutional framework, resolve its issues. you know? there is a constitution that does allow even up to secession. i think the only constitution in africa, perhaps, that allows a certain region to secede from the country, but through a process.
0k? coups are largely manifestation of internal discord and what have you. now, where i think the external partners could help, the international community could, you know, economic issues are largely drivers of coups. let s help kick start those economies. let s make sure that people are eating two meals, three meals a day, can go to school, blah blah blah. let s build the local institutions that modulate between conflicting sides, so that you don t end up taking arms, rather than selling arms to this side and selling the anti arms equipment to the other side and benefiting from both. applause. i mean, ijust, you know, the un secretary general antonio guterres said this year that military coups are back in africa, and he has blamed a lack of unity
putting their questions about conflict and army coups in africa. so, let me introduce my panel to you straightaway. adan keynan, senior mp from the ruling coalition here in kenya, and he is a member of the national assembly s defence and foreign relations committee. ethiopian born gabriel negatu, who has held many senior official positions in africa and is currently managing director at invest afrique. and murithi mutiga is africa programme director at the conflict resolution, the icg, that s the international crisis group. that s our panel, welcome to you all, give them a round of applause. applause. and remember, you too can join the conversation. it s #bbcglobalquestions. now, before we take our first question from our audience, i thought it would be a good idea to just give you a brief overview of the topic in hand, just to provide you with a bit
and i think what the west, or the international partners can do is assist the country to develop those agencies and capacity to again, within the constitutional framework, resolve its issues. you know? there is a constitution that does allow even up to secession. i think the only constitution in africa, perhaps, that allows a certain region to secede from the country, but through a process. so when you have that, there is no need for this kind of conflict. i think when the tplf kicked this fight, it was in violation of their own constitution. so i think developing the capacity is one. but the externals can also help by giving countries the policy space they need to sort their own issues.