By SudOuest.fr with AFP
Since this weekend the situation has been very confused in Burkina Faso, after numerous mutinies. According to the latest information, a coup d’etat is indeed confirmed, soldiers having announced on television “to have seized power”
On Saturday January 22, incidents broke out in Ouagadougou and other cities in Burkina Faso between the police and demonstrators who once again defied the ban on gathering to protest against the powerlessness of the authorities in the face of the jihadist violence that has ravaged the country since 2015.
On Sunday January 23, shots rang out in several barracks in the country: in the Sangoulé Lamizana camp, at the western exit of Ouagadougou, in the Baba Sy military camp, at the southern exit of the capital, at the nearby air base from the airport, as well as in barracks in Kaya and Ouahigouya (north). In the evening, the president decrees a curfew. The Ministry of Education announces that schools will remain closed for the next two days.
The inhabitants hold the national flag of Burkina Faso in support of the army, this Monday, January 24, in Ouagadougou.
AFP
The soldiers committing to the “return to a constitutional order”
The events follow one another on Sunday: The mobile internet is cut; supporters of the mutineers set fire to the headquarters of the ruling party in Ouagadougou, before being dispersed by the police and outside the Sangoulé Lamizana barracks, around forty soldiers fire into the air nearly several hundred cheering people came to support them.
Then, this Monday, January 24, the president was arrested, detained in the Sangoulé Lamizana barracks, as well as the head of Parliament and ministers, according to security sources.
Closure of borders and suspension of the Constitution
Uniformed soldiers announced Monday evening on national television that they had seized power in Burkina Faso, pledging to “return to constitutional order” within “a reasonable time”.
Reading a press release signed by Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, president of the Patriotic Movement for Safeguarding and Restoration (MPSR) which now holds power, a captain also announced the closing of the borders from midnight, the dissolution of the government and the National Assembly, as well as the suspension of the Constitution.
They demand the “replacement” of the heads of the army
The mutineer soldiers demand the “replacement” of the army chiefs, “adapted means” in the fight against jihadist groups, as well as better care for the wounded, according to an audio recording. On the other hand, they are not asking for the departure of the president.
A captain also announced the closing of the borders from midnight, the dissolution of the government and the National Assembly, as well as the suspension of the Constitution.
The African Union (AU) strongly condemns the “coup attempt” while Mr. Kaboré’s party denounces a “failed assassination attempt” on the president.
The UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, condemned the facts and called on their perpetrators “to lay down their arms” and to protect the “physical integrity” of President Roch Marc Kaboré. The European Union is calling for “that the freedom of President Kaboré and members of state institutions be immediately restored”. The United States, for their part, calls on the army of Burkina Faso to “immediately release” Roch Marc Kaboré and to “respect the Constitution” and “civil leaders” of the country.