⁍ The power grab came at a time when the presidents of Ivory Coast and Guinea are seeking third terms.

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⁍ More than a dozen people have been killed in protests in Ivory Coast since President Alassane Ouattara announced last month that he would seek a third term.

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⁍ In Guinea, at least 30 people have died during demonstrations since last year against constitutional changes that allow President Alpha Conde to contest next month’s vote.

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– After a military coup in Mali last month, the Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, issued a statement condemning the “serious violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms” in the country, the BBC reports. But the group didn’t go so far as to impose economic sanctions on the military leaders behind the March 22 coup. Instead, ECOWAS called for the immediate restoration of democratically elected President Alassane Ouattara, who was ousted in the coup. On Monday, the group announced that a civilian interim president had been appointed, Reuters reports. The Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, is a 15-member body that exists to promote democracy in its member countries. But the group came close to banning third terms in its members’ constitutions in 2015, but didn’t follow through, analysts say. “What we are experiencing today is a weakening of the position of the international community when it comes to liberal values,” one of the experts commissioned by ECOWAS who recommended the two-term limit tells Reuters. “We are asking for strong institutions. But while the institutions exist on paper, the politicians manipulate them from the inside until there’s nothing left,” says Veronique Tadjo, an Ivorian novelist who co-authored a manifesto against third terms. “In democracy, there is nothing more legitimate than the popular will expressed at the ballot box,” a spokesman for Guinea President Alpha Conde tells Reuters, who is seeking a third term after referendums to alter constitutions that barred him from running again. At least 12 people have been killed in protests since Ouattara announced last month that he will seek a third term.