(4 minutes read)
· ECOWAS will meet tomorrow (Friday) to discuss the current unrest in Burkina Faso
· Army officers have usurped and ousted President Roch Marc Christian Kabore
· The 15-member Economic Community of West African States, had already condemned Monday’s coup and urged the parties to maintain peace and cordiality
· Others who condemned the coup are the UN and African Union.
ECOWAS will meet tomorrow (Friday) to discuss the current unrest in Burkina Faso. Army officers have usurped and ousted President Roch Marc Christian Kabore. The meeting will be held virtually tomorrow morning.
The 15-member Economic Community of West African States, had already condemned Monday’s coup and urged the parties to maintain peace and cordiality. Others who condemned the coup are the UN and African Union. The coup has been engineered on account of the inability of president Kabore to quell violence by armed groups, according to the perpetrators of the coup.
A source in the deposed president’s party said that Kabore (64) is physically well and was being held as a captive by the army in a villa. He was elected in 2015 ousting then strongman Blaise Compaore. He was re-elected in 2020. But could not provide a strong leadership. Jihadist attacks crippled the country leading to over 2000 deaths and displacement of 1.5 million people. The country has a total population of 21 million.
The army rebels brought the country under the control of the Patriotic Movement for Preservation and Restoration (MPSR). A military government led by Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba took control of the government. The present dispensation suspended the constitution and dissolved the government. A statement indicated that the country would propose a return to constitutional order “within a reasonable time frame”. ECOWAS said that President Kabore was forced to resign under threat and intimidation. The Sahel region had faced three coups in 19 months beginning with Mali in 2020 and Guinea in September 2021.
