Soldiers in Burkina Faso yesterday announced on State television that they have seized power in the West African country following a mutiny over the civilian president’s perceived failure checkmate an Islamist insurgency.
A junior officer announced the suspension of the constitution, the dissolution of the government and parliament, and the closure of the country’s borders from midnight Monday, reading from a statement signed by Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba.
He said the new Patriotic Movement for Preservation and Restoration (MPSR) would re-establish ‘constitutional order’ within a ‘reasonable time’, adding that a nationwide nightly curfew would be enforced.
Africa Today News, New York had earlier reported that African and Western powers had on Monday denounced what they called an ‘attempted coup’ and the EU demanded the ‘immediate’ release of President Roch Marc Christian Kabore.
The United States also called for Kabore’s release and urged ‘members of the security forces to respect Burkina Faso’s constitution and civilian leadership.’
UN chief Antonio Guterres said in a statement he ‘strongly condemns any attempted takeover of government by the force of arms’, calling events a ‘coup’.
Following contradictory reports over Kabore’s whereabouts EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement: ‘We now know that President Kabore is under the control of the military.’
He called the situation ‘extremely worrying’.
A government source had said that Kabore was ‘exfiltrated’ from his home late Sunday by his presidential guard ‘before the arrival of armed elements who fired on the vehicles of his convoy’.
On Sunday, soldiers rose up at several army bases across Burkina Faso, which has been fighting the Islamist insurgency since 2015. They demanded the removal of the military top brass and more resources to fight insurgents but made no mention of seeking Kabore’s ouster.
The president, in power since 2015 and re-elected in 2020, has faced rising public anger about failure to stop the bloodshed in the poor, landlocked country.
On Monday, the People’s Movement for Progress ruling party said Kabore was the victim of an ‘aborted assassination attempt’. A government minister, who was not named, also survived an attempt on his life and the president’s home was ransacked, it added.
The government source said that Kabore had been ‘exfiltrated’ from his home late Sunday by his presidential guard ‘before the arrival of armed elements who fired on the vehicles of his convoy’.
Earlier, the ruling party urged ‘loyalist security forces, patriots and republicans to distance themselves from this umpteenth attempt at destabilisation (and) stand with the Burkinabe people, law and democracy’.
Burkina Faso has seen several coups or attempted coups. In neighbouring Mali — where the insurgency began before crossing the border — the military toppled the civilian government in 2020.
On Monday, West African states in the ECOWAS grouping described the latest volatility as a ‘coup attempt’ and held ‘soldiers responsible for (Kabore’s) physical well-being’.
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK