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Burkina Faso President Kaboré ‘detained’ by soldiers

Burkina Faso’s President Roch Marc Christian Kabore has been detained by mutinying soldiers, according to news reports citing security officials.

Roch Marc Christian Kaboré is  has been the President of Burkina Faso since 2015

The reports on Monday came a day after soldiers staged mutinies at several army barracks, prompting fears of a coup in the conflict-hit country. Later on Sunday, heavy gunfire was also heard near Kabore’s residence in the capital, Ouagadougou.

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Several armoured vehicles of the presidential fleet, riddled with bullets, could be seen near the residence on Monday morning. One was spattered with blood.

Two security sources and a West African diplomat told Reuters news agency 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 under way.

“We just passed the military base where Kabore is alleged to be confined at the moment,” journalist Henry Wilkins reported from Ouagadougou on Monday.

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“Traffic is circulating as normal but there is an usually high number of military personnel out on the streets around the presidential palace.”

A video grab shows a blood stained, bullet-riddled vehicle from the Burkina Faso presidential fleet [Reuters].

AFP news agency also reported the president had been arrested along with other government officials.

“President Kabore, the head of parliament, and the ministers are effectively in the hands of the soldiers” at the Sangoule Lamizana barracks in the capital, two security officials said.

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Two of the rebellious soldiers told The Associated Press by phone early Monday that Kabore was being held “in a safe place”, but would not specify where.

Kabore has led Burkina Faso since 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 mutinous soldiers said the government was disconnected from its forces in the field, and their colleagues were dying and 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.

About 100 military members planned the takeover since August, according to one of the mutinous soldiers. 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.

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Regional analysts say the Kabore government was overstretched but it is unlikely the mutiny 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,” said Michael Shurkin, a former political analyst at the CIA and director of global programmes at 14 North Strategies.

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,” said Jean-Baptiste Ilboudou a civilian near the military base where gunshots were heard.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

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