3 yıl önce

Military junta announces control of Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso's army has ousted President Roch Kabore, suspended the constitution, dissolved the government and the national assembly, and closed the borders.

AP

Soldiers in Burkina Faso announced over state television that they had seized power in the West African nation and dissolved its government and parliament.

More than a dozen mutinous soldiers have declared on state television that a military junta seized control of Burkina Faso after the democratically elected president was detained following a day of gunbattles in the capital.

The announcement, signed by Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba and read by another officer on state television, said on Monday that the takeover had been carried out without violence and that those detained were at a secure location.

"MPSR, which includes all sections of the army, has decided to end President Kabore's post today," it said.

The statement was made in the name of a previously unheard of entity, the Patriotic Movement for Safeguard and Restoration or MPSR, its French language acronym.

It cited the deterioration of the security situation and what it described as Kabore's inability to unite the nation and effectively respond to the challenges it faces.

Captain Sidsore Kaber Ouedraogo said that the MPSR would work to establish a calendar “acceptable to everyone” for holding new elections. He did not give details.

The statements came soon after ruling political party warned that soldiers had nearly completed a coup in the West African nation after trying to assassinate President Roch Kabore and taking control of public airwaves.

International condemnation

The ruling party accused the mutinous soldiers of trying to assassinate Kabore and another government minister and said the presidential palace in Ouagadougou remained surrounded by "heavily armed and hooded men.”

Before the army statement, the African Union and the West African bloc ECOWAS both condemned what they called an attempted coup in Burkina Faso, saying they held the military responsible for Kabore's safety.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also condemned the "attempted takeover" and called on the coup leaders to lay down their weapons, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Monday.

Two soldiers told The Associated Press that they were holding the leader, but they would not say where they were keeping him. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

Gunfire erupted early Sunday when soldiers took control of a major military barracks in the capital, Ouagadougou.

SOURCE: TRTWorld and agencies