The president of Burkina Faso, Roch Kabore, was detained by soldiers in a military camp, a day after intense shooting at the official’s official residence in the capital Ouagadougou. The information was confirmed to Reuters by four sources linked to national security and a diplomat on Monday (24).
The West African country of 21 million is seeing continued clashes at military installations, with soldiers demanding more support in the fight against Islamist insurgents. Over the past few years, Burkina Faso and neighboring countries in the semi-arid region of the Sahel, such as Niger, have been plagued by bombs, massacres and kidnappings.
The government has ruled out a coup d’état is in place, but the exact whereabouts of Kabore, who has held the presidency since 2015, is still unknown. Several bullet-ridden armored vehicles from the presidential fleet could be seen near the president’s residence on Monday morning, and one of them was stained with blood.
Security sources told the AFP news agency that the country’s head of parliament and some ministers were also detained by soldiers at the Sangoulé Lamizana barracks.
Still, a post was made on the president’s official profile at 2 pm local time (11 am in BrasÃlia) asking for dialogue. “Right now, we must safeguard our democratic achievements,” read the text, which ended with Roch Kabore’s initials “RK”.
The Burkinabe head of state has faced waves of protests over the past few months, largely fueled by frustration with the national inability to contain the insurgents, many members of terrorist groups such as Islamic State and al Qaeda.
Burkina Faso is one of the poorest countries in West Africa, even though it produces gold. Terrorist groups control parts of the country, particularly in the north and east, leading to waves of migration and depletion of resources. Targeted at both civilians and the military, the increasingly frequent attacks have left more than 2,000 dead and 1.5 million internally displaced in nearly seven years.
An insurgent attack on a military post in Soum province left 49 police officers and four civilians dead in November. Days later, it was discovered that troops based there had been without food for two weeks and had to slaughter animals for food.
Protesters took to the streets on Sunday (23) in support of the military uprising and looted the headquarters of Kabore’s political party, the Popular Movement for Progress. The government then decreed a late-night curfew and closed schools for two days.
Tensions grew as President Kabore changed his stance towards the military in an attempt to repress opposition inside the barracks. The government arrested 12 soldiers on suspicion of conspiracy earlier this month.
A spokesperson for the soldiers told reporters that they demand better resources and training so they can fight terrorism, as well as welfare for the wounded and their families and the resignation of the African country’s intelligence chiefs.
The country, which was a French colony, gained independence in 1960. The French embassy in Burkina Faso advised its citizens in the country not to go outside on Monday, informed that French schools would remain closed until Tuesday (25) and that two Air France flights to the country were cancelled.
The turmoil in the country of just over 274,000 square kilometers unfolds amidst a scenario of increasing number of coups d’état around the world, especially in Africa.
Seven coup attempts took place throughout 2021, and five of them came to fruition, four of them on the mainland (Chad, Mali, Guinea and Sudan). In all cases, the lack of legitimacy of local leaders weighed on the decision of the Armed Forces to seize power, and the less proactiveness of the international community to fend off coups amid the Covid pandemic also had an influence.
ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States), a bloc of which Burkina Faso is a part, issued a statement expressing concern about the political and security situation in the country after what it characterized as an attempted coup d’état. The community urged the military to release the president and asked them to value dialogue and republicanism.
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