The President of Burkina Faso, Roch Kaboré , was detained by the military in a coup d’état, confirmed this Monday (214 ) to the EFE Agency a senior commander of the West African country’s Army.
24152128 )Hours later, a statement signed by Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba and read by another official on state television confirmed the overthrow of Kaboré, the suspension of the country’s Constitution, the dissolution of the government and the National Assembly and the closing of borders .
According to information from the Reuters agency, the report, signed by the Patriotic Movement for Safeguarding and Restoration (MPSR, in French), pointed out that the seizure of power would have been carried out without violence and that the detainees would be in a safe place.
24152128 The reasons alleges for the movement were the alleged deterioration of the security situation in the country and what has been described as Kaboré’s “inability” to unite the nation and respond to the challenges it faces.
24152128The arrest took place amidst a climate of great tension that began on Sunday, when shots were fired in several military barracks in an alleged mutiny. to demand improvements in the Armed Forces.
Still according to the source heard by EFE, the country’s authorities had carried out negotiations with the mutineers at night, when shots were heard near the presidential residence, but the strategy seems to have failed.
Also on Sunday night, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) had expressed “great concern” about the riot, calling for “calm” and exhorted the military to favor “dialogue with the authorities”.
The communiqué from the entity This information was released after the Burkinabé government imposed a nighttime curfew following the riot.
Earlier this month, people (ten soldiers and five civilians) had already been arrested in Burkina Faso for an alleged coup attempt.
In addition, last Saturday, the country experienced another day of demonstrations not authorized by the government and called by civil society groups to express social discontent over the insecurity generated by jihadist violence and the government’s lack of results in the fight against problem.
Jihadist attacks in Burkina Faso are often attributed to groups affiliated with the terrorist network Al Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS), especially in the northern Sahel region, but have spread to neighboring regions and since 1280, in the east of the country.
Insecurity has caused the number of internally displaced people to rise to just over 1.5 million, according to government figures.