Burkina Faso army says it has deposed President Kabore

 

BY Oyekan Oluwatobi, Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso’s army said it has deposed President Roch Kabore, suspended the constitution, dissolved the government and the national assembly, and closed the borders.

The announcement, signed on Monday by Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba and read by another officer on state television, said that the takeover had been carried out without violence and those detained were in a secure location.

The statement was made in the name of a previously unheard of entity, the Patriotic Movement for Safeguard and Restoration or MPSR, its French language acronym.

“MPSR, which includes all sections of the army, has decided to end President Kabore’s post today,” it said.

It cited the deterioration of the security situation and what it described as Kabore’s inability to unite the nation and effectively respond to the challenges it faces.

The statement said said the MPSR would re-establish “constitutional order” within a “reasonable time”, adding that a nationwide nightly curfew would be enforced.

The army broadcast came after two days of confusion and fear in the capital Ouagadougou, where heavy gunfire erupted at army camps on Sunday, with soldiers demanding more support for their fight against armed groups.

It was not immediately known where President Roch Marc Christian Kabore was.

Security sources earlier gave conflicting accounts of Kabore’s situation, with some saying he was being detained by the coup organisers and others saying forces loyal to him had taken him to a secure location.

Earlier, Kabore’s party said he had survived an assassination attempt, but gave no details. Several armoured vehicles belonging to the presidential fleet could be seen near Kabore’s residence on Monday, riddled with bullets. One was spattered with blood.

Following contradictory reports on Kabore’s whereabouts EU foreign policy chief Joseph Borrell said in a statement, “We now know that President Kabore is under the control of the military.”

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”.

Before the army statement, the African Union and the West African bloc ECOWAS both condemned what they called an attempted coup in Burkina Faso, saying they held the military responsible for Kabore’s safety.

The landlocked country, one of West Africa’s poorest despite being a gold producer, has experienced numerous coups since independence from France in 1960.

Kabore – in power since 2015 and re-elected in 2020 – had faced waves of protests in recent months amid frustration about killings of civilians and soldiers by armed groups, some of whom have links to ISIL (ISIS) and al-Qaeda.

Burkina Faso joins the ranks of several states in the region that are now under military rule. Mali, Guinea, and Chad have seen coups in recent years.