Burkina Faso’s military junta has on Monday, January 31, 2022, restored the country’s constitution a week after taking power and appointed the coup’s leader as head of state for a transitional period.

The move was made immediately after the African Union (AU) suspended Burkina for the military takeover and diplomats from West Africa and the UN pressed demands for a return to civilian rule.

In a statement read on television, the junta announced the approval for a “fundamental act” that “lifts the suspension of the constitution,” a move declared after the Monday, January 24, 2022, coup.

The 37-page document guarantees independence of the judiciary and presumption of blamelessness, as well as basic liberties, spelt out in the constitution such as freedom of movement and freedom of speech, according to the statement.

Referencing the “fundamental act,” it said, the junta, officially named the Patriotic Movement for Preservation and Restoration (MPSR), “ensures the continuity of the state pending the establishment of transitional bodies.”

However, the statement did not give a specific timeline for the transition period.

It formally identified coup leader Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba as president of the MPSR.

This role also encompasses “president of Burkina Faso, head of state (and) supreme leader of the armed forces,” the statement noted.

The MPSR has two vice presidents, the statement added but was limited to the specific names occupying the vice president position.

A separate decree read on television said that the Armed Forces Chief of Staff, Gilbert Ouedraogo, was leaving the job.

AU suspension

Earlier today (January 31, 2022), the AU’s 15-member Peace and Security Council in a Twitter post voted “to suspend the participation of Burkina Faso in all AU activities until the effective restoration of constitutional order in the country”.

On Friday, January 28, 2022, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) also suspended Burkina Faso from its ranks and warned of possible sanctions pending the outcome of meetings with the junta.

An ECOWAS mission, headed by Ghanaian Foreign Minister, Shirley Ayorkor Botchway arrived in Ouagadougou, where it was joined by the UN’s special representative for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS), Mahamat Saleh Annadif.

ECOWAS sent military chiefs to have deliberations with Damiba on Saturday, January 29, 2022.

Leaders from the bloc will hold a summit in Accra on Thursday, February 3, 2022, to assess its two missions to see whether they should impose sanctions.

The bloc previously suspended and enforced sanctions against two other member states, Mali and Guinea, which have also seen military overthrows in the past 18 months.

Moussa Faki Mahamat, who chairs the AU’s Commission, already condemned the military take-over the same day its orchestration.

Troubled country

On January 24, rebel soldiers detained president Roch Marc Christian Kabore amid rising public anger at his failure to stem jihadist violence ravaging the impoverished nation.

They later released a handwritten letter in which he announced his resignation, a document that a member of his party confirmed to be authentic.

The junta also said it had dissolved the government and parliament along with the suspension of the country’s constitution, vowing to re-establish “constitutional order” within a “reasonable time”, with no specific timeline.

The coup is the latest bout of turmoil to strike Burkina Faso, a landlocked state that has suffered chronic instability since gaining independence from France in 1960.

Kabore was elected in 2015 following a popular revolt that forced out the longest-serving leader, Blaise Compaore.

Compaore himself had seized power in 1987 during a coup in which the country’s revolutionary leader then, Thomas Sankara, was gunned down.

After the happenings, he was re-elected in 2020. But the following year, Compaore faced a wave of anger over his handling of a jihadist insurgency that swept in from neighbouring Mali.

Since 2015, more than 2,000 people have died, according to the national death toll recorded, while the country’s emergency agency says 1.5 million people, from a population of 21 million, have flown from their homes.