Burkina Faso’s President, Roch Marc Christian Kabore has been detained by rebellious soldiers, according to the agitated security officials.
The report comes a day after soldiers staged a mutiny act at several army barracks, prompting fears of a coup in the conflict-hit country. Later on Sunday, January 23, 2022, heavy gunfire was also heard near Kabore’s residence in the country’s capital, Ouagadougou.
Several armoured vehicles of the presidential fleet, riddled with bullets, could be seen near the residence on Monday (January 24, 2022) morning. One was spattered with blood.
Two security sources and a West African diplomat told the media that Kabore was detained at a military camp. There was no immediate comment by the government, which on Sunday had denied that a coup was underway.
“We just passed the military base where Kabore is alleged to be confined at the moment,” according to a reporter, Henry Wilkins on Monday, January 24, 2022.
“Traffic is circulating as normal but there is a usually high number of military personnel on the streets around the presidential palace.”
Henry Wilkins – Reporter
Other reports also suggested that the president had been arrested along with other government officials.
According to two security officials at the Sangoule Lamizana barracks, “President Kabore, the head of parliament, and the ministers are effectively in the hands of the soldiers.”
Two of the soldiers, early on Monday, January 24, 2022, told the media that Kabore was being held “in a safe place”, but would not specify where precisely.
Kabore had been leading Burkina Faso, being elected in 2015 after a popular uprising ousted longtime strongman, President Blaise Compaore, who was in power for nearly three decades.
Kabore was reelected in November 2020 for another five-year term. However, frustration has been growing at his inability to stem the spread of violence across the country.
Attacks linked to Al-Qaeda and the armed group, ISIL (ISIS) are escalating, killing thousands and displacing more than an estimated 1.5 million people. The military has suffered heavy losses.
Angry rebellious soldiers said the government was disconnected from its forces in the field, and their colleagues were dying, hence, they wanted military rule. The soldiers put a man on the phone who said they were seeking better working conditions for Burkina Faso’s military.
How it was Carried out
According to one of the soldiers, about 100 military members planned the take over since August 2021.
The organisers never met in the same location more than twice and always outside of the capital, he said. They used messaging apps such as Signal, WhatsApp and Telegraph to plan, he added.
The Fight is out of its depth
Regional analysts said the Kabore government is overstretched but it is unlikely the rebellion will change anything.
“Burkina Faso’s army is profoundly ill-equipped and unprepared for the war it’s asked to fight. It’s out of its depth. Its frustration with an equally out of its depth government is understandable. Regrettably, this [rebellion] is unlikely to improve anything,” a former political analyst at the CIA and director of global programmes at 14 North Strategies, Michael Shurkin said.
With weekend protests, Burkina Faso’s population is already showing signs of supporting a takeover.
“People are tired with this situation of insecurity. Every day people are killed. In Burkina, there are areas that can’t be accessed. We have lost a big part of our territory,” a civilian, Jean-Baptiste Ilboudou, who lives near the military base, where gunshots were heard, pointed out.
The West African regional union, ECOWAS, which suspended Mali and Guinea in the past 18 months over military coups, has issued a statement of support for Burkina Faso’s embattled president and urged dialogue with the soldiers.
Earlier this month, authorities arrested a group of soldiers accused of participating in a foiled coup plot. However, it was not immediately known whether there was any connection.
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