In October 1993, Burundi's elected president Melchior Ndadaye was brutally murdered in the course of a military coup d'état, just four months after the country's first peaceful multiparty elections. Observers suggested that the Tutsiled military had been unwilling to cede power to a government dominated by Hutu civilian politicians. In Gambia, another elected civilian regime – this one long-standing – was overthrown by the military on July 22, 1994. The main justification claimed by the soldiers for their action was the Jawara government's inability to overcome the economic crisis facing the country. In Zambia, 1995 was marked by the political resurrection of former President Kenneth Kaunda, who came out of retirement to declare his intention to contest the presidency in the 1996 elections. President Chiluba, whose own popularity had dropped because of widespread corruption charges and a persistent economic downturn, proposed two constitutional amendments transparently designed to eliminate a challenge from his old nemesis. In this strategy, Chiluba was only following the example set by President Bédié of Côte d'Ivoire, who earlier had changed legal codes to prevent Alassane Ouatara (who was half Burkinabe) from being allowed to run.

All across Africa, there are signs that the democratic gains of 1990 to 1994 that we examined in the preceding chapters are eroding. In a few countries, democratization has been reversed as military forces have overthrown elected governments, spelling an end to brief democratic experiments and a return to authoritarian rule.