OUAGADOUGOU (dpa-AFX) – Mutinous soldiers overthrew Burkina Faso’s President Roch Marc Kabor and took power in the West African crisis state. This was announced by a spokesman for the putschists on state television. The government had been dissolved and the constitution suspended, said Sidsor Kader Ouedraogo, speaking on behalf of the Patriotic Movement for Protection and Restoration (MPSR). We want to avoid violence and bloodshed.
The MPSR will soon announce how and when Burkina Faso will return to democracy, Ouedraogo said. The country’s borders remain closed for at least four days, and there is also a curfew between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m.
A few hours earlier, Kabor had been arrested and taken to a military camp in the capital, Ouagadougou. Local media circulated photos of the President’s car riddled with bullet holes. On Monday afternoon, Kabor then took the floor on Twitter and asked the soldiers to lay down their arms and engage in dialogue. The West African community of states Ecowas and the African Union said they support the government. The US embassy in Ouagadougou remained closed “due to ongoing security concerns”.
In the evening, the European Union demanded the immediate release of Kabor and other detained members of state institutions. She also called on the security forces and military to assert their claims non-violently and remain true to their primary task of protecting the population and defending the territory. One appeals to all actors to keep calm and exercise restraint, said a statement by EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.
As recently as mid-January, the army had accused and arrested several soldiers of a coup attempt. But even among the people, Kabor was not without controversy: on Saturday, hundreds of demonstrators in the capital demanded his resignation.
Burkina Faso is in a serious crisis, mainly because of increasing Islamist terror in the Sahel. Many militias, some of whom have sworn allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) or the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda, operate across the borders of Mali and Niger. More than a million of the country’s 21 million residents are considered internally displaced.
Resentment among the population, which accuses Kabor and his government of being unable to act, has increased sharply in recent months. Protracted droughts and famines also plague the country, which is impoverished despite its wealth in gold.
The governments of Burkina Faso and its neighbors have little control in the desert-like expanses outside of the cities. Burkina Faso has therefore joined forces with Mali, Mauritania, Chad and Niger to form the G5 Sahel Group to fight the terrorist groups. Germany and France also support the alliance. Many people travel via Burkina Faso to Niger, one of the most important transit countries for African migrants who want to reach the Mediterranean Sea and cross over to Europe.
The coup in Burkina Faso is the fourth in West Africa in around 18 months and has fueled fears that the entire region could be destabilized. The neighboring country of Mali, where the Bundeswehr is stationed with just over 1,350 soldiers, experienced military coups in August 2020 and May 2021 and is considered to be extremely unstable politically. In Guinea, further to the west, the military has also been in power since the violent ouster of President Alpha Cond in September.
In the north of Burkina Faso, the country triangle bordering Mali and Niger has been a restricted area for months. It was here in particular that the army suffered heavy losses in the fight against terror. When extremists killed 49 military policemen and four civilians in the northern town of Inata in November, there was a storm of outrage.
Soldiers demanded more wages and better equipment in the fight against the Islamists. Allegations that the government was not paying enough attention to the families of those killed or injured in the armed forces mounted. Reports of missing food rations and shabby barracks led to protests. More and more soldiers and civilians demanded Kabor’s resignation. In December, under pressure from the public, he deposed his prime minister and formed a new government – but no tangible reforms followed.
“Kabor has tried to appease the public by reshuffling its government, replacing various levels of military leadership and banning anti-government protests,” said Alexandre Raymakers, political analyst at security consultancy Verisk Maplecroft. However, this could not contain the anger of the people./DP/he