Burkina Faso
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Soldiers rebelled on Sunday in several barracks in Burkina Faso to demand the departure of army chiefs and means more suited to the fight against the jihadists who have struck the country since 2015.
“Don’t get too close.” The man, leaning on the handlebars of his motorcycle, is planted in the middle of an artery contiguous to the Sangoulé Lamizana military camp in Ouagadougou. A huge complex in the Gounghin district, west of the Burkinabè capital. The dirt alley is deserted. Only a few men are chatting on a bench in front of a closed stall. It is 8 o’clock, shots ring out. Jerky, fed, barely interrupted, combining light and heavy weapons. “That’s a warning shot,” distinguishes the neighbor. According to this soldier on leave, the shooting began around 5 am. They will pause briefly around 12:30 p.m., when other sporadic gunfire was heard at Ouagadougou Air Base and Camp Baba Sy, as well as in other towns across the country. Is it a putsch, the day after an aborted mobilization against the regime of Roch Kaboré, or a mutiny? The man is circumspect.
“It’s a mutiny”, decide later at least two soldiers. The first, by driving back a French journalist from the main entrance to the camp. The second, by joining by telephone a pair of Canadian and British journalists arrested and then detained at Camp Lamizana for about fifteen minutes. Their five claim points are identical. “Resources adapted to the fight against terrorism and substantial staff. The replacement of the Chiefs of the Armed Forces Staff, the Army Staff, the National Agency…