Nairobi, Feb. 8 -- Senegal's President Macky Sall announced in early February that presidential elections, originally scheduled for February 25, would be postponed indefinitely.

The announcement has raised fears of popular protests, violent repression, a once democratic president transforming into an authoritarian ruler - and possibly even another coup d'etat in West Africa.

There has been a flurry of coups in the region since 2020 - Mali in August that year followed by a second in 2021. Guinea also saw a coup that year and Burkina Faso a year later. In July 2023, the military took control in Niger.

Read: Why Mali, Burkina and Niger are leaving Ecowas

Senegal has never suffered a coup d'etat and has been considered the region's most s...