The Economic Community of West African States has shown its “great concern” about the situation and has spoken of an “attempted coup”
The president of Burkina Faso, Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, has called on the mutinous soldiers to “lay down their arms”, hours after the local media pointed out that he had been detained by the Army, without his being clear for now. whereabouts.
“Our nation is going through difficult times. We must at this time safeguard our democratic advances,” Kaboré said through his account on the social network Twitter, without giving details about where he is or if he is in the hands of the mutineers.
“I invite those who have taken up arms to lay them down, in the best interest of the nation. The way in which we must settle our differences is through dialogue and listening,” said the president.
Sources quoted by the Burkinabe portal Infowakat had indicated earlier in the day that Kaboré had been arrested and transferred to the Lamizana camp, after which Radio Omega station indicated that the Presidential Guard had been disarmed and that the president had left the Presidential Palace.
Likewise, sources cited by the Radio France Internationale station have confirmed the arrest, while an officer has highlighted in statements to this medium that “there will be a statement in the next few hours.” The mutinous soldiers had previously called for Kaboré’s resignation.
ECOWAS shows “great concern”
Faced with this situation, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has shown its “great concern” about the situation and has spoken of an “attempted coup” in a statement published on its social networks.
“ECOWAS condemns this extremely serious act that will not be tolerated, in line with the relevant regulatory provisions,” he said, before making the military “responsible for the physical integrity” of the president.
For this reason, he has asked the mutineers to “return to their military barracks, to maintain a republican position and to privilege dialogue with the authorities to resolve problems.”
For its part, the French Embassy in Ouagadougou has said that the situation “is confusing” and has recommended its citizens in the country to “avoid non-essential travel during the day and not to circulate at night.”
“The two Air France flights scheduled for this Monday afternoon have been cancelled. French schools will remain closed on Tuesday, January 25,” he added on his website, before adding that there will be new “indications” in the next few hours.
The information about Kaboré’s arrest has emerged hours after the president’s family left the country due to the riot at several bases around the capital, Ouagadougou, in the framework of which General Gilbert Diendéré, former head of Cabinet of former President Blaise Compaoré, convicted of a 2015 coup attempt and also on trial in connection with the assassination of 1980s African revolutionary icon and former president Thomas Sankara.
The Government had decreed a curfew on Sunday between 8:00 p.m. and 5:30 a.m. (local time), while the mutineers assured that they were not seeking to seize power, but rather demand more means and the immediate dismissal of the leadership of the Agency National Intelligence Agency for its inability to fight against the jihadism that has plagued the country for years.
Unsafety
The mutiny took place about two weeks after the authorities announced the arrest of eight soldiers, including a commander, in connection with an alleged plot to “destabilize” the country’s institutions. They also suspended access to Facebook last week for unspecified security reasons.
The Burkina Faso Prime Minister, Lassina Zerbo, recognized in early January that the country is going through an “extremely worrying” security situation and advocated making “national reconciliation” one of the lines of action to restore peace and security, after that this instability has already left more than 1.5 million displaced since 2015.
The African country has generally experienced a significant increase in attacks since 2015. These, the work of both the Al Qaeda affiliate and the Islamic State affiliate in the region, have also contributed to increasing inter-community violence and have made that self-defense groups flourish.
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