honestly. and this revealed the travesty of how the international community will look at something and declare it something else. they need not to do that. don t take sides. including the media, by the way. including the media. that has been very unfair to the situation. that is a good point to end, then. thank you very much indeed to my three guests and also the wind, which has been a bit of an unwelcome guest at times and playing havoc with our microphones, and thank you to my audience here in nairobi, and to you of course, wherever you are watching this programme. that is all from this edition of global questions with me, zeinab badawi. i hope we have brought you some interesting insights about conflict and army coups in africa. remember, we are the programme that brings you the trend lines behind the headlines. until the next time, from me, and all the global questions team, goodbye. applause.
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. 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.
it is from henry. henry. thank you very much. does the joy with which the populus welcomes coup leaders, who topple democratically elected i leaders, signal a disillusionmentl with african politicians leadership |ability, and the failure of westernj democracy, as applied in africa? gabriel, let s take that and look at it as a failure of democratic governance in africa. when you were director of the eastern region for the african development bank, you dealt with an awful lot of african leaders, so how would you answer this? i would tend to agree with his assessment, that indeed coups reflect disillusionment, disenfranchisement of citizens, in the face of their own life, in their own affairs. where i would disagree with you is, there is no such thing
applause. they like what you said there. i think it was the point about the hypocrisy of the west that got you the applause. ok, let s go to our second question. it is from henry. henry. thank you very much. does the joy with which the - populus welcomes coup leaders, who topple democratically elected leaders, signal. a disillusionment with african politicians leadership- ability, and the failure i of western democracy, as applied in africa? gabriel, let s take that and look at it as a failure of democratic governance in africa. when you were director of the eastern region for the african development bank, you dealt with an awful lot of african leaders, so how would you answer this? i would tend to agree with his assessment, that indeed coups reflect disillusionment, disenfranchisement of citizens,
because abdel fattah al sisi, current president, a coup in 2013, removed a democratically elected president. 2014, the european union for instance, said, no, we don t recognise you. he recently was given, by president macron of france, the highest honour that the french can bestow. so people change their mind, don t they? the international community can. that, again, is the basis for the definition of- diplomatic engagement. if you look at foreign relations, i countries have different interests, and that is actually. so, when france, the president of france is doing that, - there must have been certain salient historical relationship between egypt and france, and that might have had. j but, i mean, the point is people accept, don t they? they accept coup leaders, even if, at first, they reject them, if it suits them. if you delve into that, - you realise that some of these countries have supported coups in africa, for their own selfish reasons. applause. they like what you said th