The political situation in Burkina Faso remains uncertain on January 24, 2022. President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré was arrested and is being held, according to security sources contacted by AFP, at the Sangoulé Lamizana barracks, located in the capital Ouagadougou, as well as the head of Parliament and ministers. A statement from the perpetrators of this coup attempt, whose identity has not yet been confirmed, has been awaited for several hours. According to the Burkinabè media, the national television is in the hands of armed men. In the meantime, here’s what we know.
The thread of events
The probable arrest of President Kaboré, announced Monday, January 24, is the epilogue of a mutiny which broke out in several barracks in Burkina Faso to demand the departure of the leaders of the army and “appropriate means” to the fight against the jihadists who have struck this country since 2015. Shots were thus heard all day on Sunday January 23, 2022 in several military camps, in particular those of Sangoulé Lamizana, Baba Sy and at the air base in Ouagadougou. Mutinies have also broken out in Kaya and Ouahigouya in northern Burkina, where the majority of jihadist attacks are concentrated, according to residents and military sources. At the end of the day, shots were heard near the residence of the Head of State.
In a press release pointing to the information disseminated on social networks, reports Le Faso.net, the government had recognized on the day of January 23 shootings in several barracks, while denying “a takeover by the army”. In the evening, President Kaboré decreed “until further notice” a curfew from 8 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. (local and GMT) and the government had announced the closure of schools on Monday and Tuesday.
No news from the Burkinabè president
Burkinabè Head of State Roch Marc Christian Kaboré was arrested and is in detention at the camp Sangoulé Lamizana of Ouagadougou which houses the House of arrest and correction of the armies (Maca), a military prison. “President Kaboré, the Head of Parliament (Alassane Bala Sakandé) and ministers are effectively in the hands of soldiers”, at the Sangoulé Lamizana barracks in Ouagadougou, a security source told AFP, information confirmed by another source within the security services.
In a press release issued on January 24, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which had once again expressed concern about the situation in Burkina Faso, declared that it wanted “the military responsible for physical integrity” of the Burkinabe president.
ECOWAS communiqué on the situation in Burkina Faso (January 24, 2022) pic.twitter.com/WjnthCtDse
— ECOWAS-ECOWAS (@ecowas_cedeao) January 24, 2022
General Gilbert Diendéré, close to former President Blaise Compaoré overthrown in 2014 is also detained in the prison of camp Sangoulé Lamizana. The officer was sentenced to 20 years in prison for a 2015 coup attempt against President Kabore, and is currently on trial for his alleged role in the 1987 assassination of former President Thomas Sankara. It is also in this camp that has been imprisoned, since January 14, Lieutenant-Colonel Emmanuel Zoungrana, suspected by the Burkinabè authorities of being behind an attempted coup. The former commander of the 12th commando infantry regiment of Burkina Faso was accused of having planned to “destabilize institutions”.
angry soldiers
“We want means adapted to the fight” anti-jihadist”and substantial staff”, as well as the “replacement” of the highest ranks of the national army, said in an audio recording sent to AFP a soldier from the Sangoulé Lamizana barracks, on condition of anonymity. He also wished “better care for the injured” during the attacks and fights with the jihadists, as well as “of the families of the deceased”. The destitution in which the Burkinabè soldiers seem to find themselves echoes the situation described by the Malian soldiers in the north of their country, also occupied by the jihadists, and which led to a coup d’etat in this country in 2012.
Another element of discontent for the Burkinabè army which could have justified this coup: the recent arrest of Lieutenant-Colonel Emmanuel Zoungrana. “As a reminder, this senior officer, who is said rightly or wrongly, that he is loved by the troops and who commanded the anti-terrorist forces on the northern front, has just been arrested on suspicion of a coup d’etat”, underlined in an article the Burkinabè newspaper The country. The former corps commander of the 12th commando infantry regiment of Burkina Faso was arrested while waiting in Ouagadougou for a new assignment. Based in Ouahigouya, capital of the North region, Lieutenant-Colonel Zoungrana, 41, left his last post on December 21. He was commander of the Western sector forces group, engaged in the fight against terrorism. The officer had been decorated for his feats of arms, in particular for having recaptured besieged localities.
Citizens overwhelmed by insecurity
In power since 2015, Roch Marc Christian Kaboré was re-elected in 2020 on the promise to make the anti-jihadist fight his priority. A challenge that he would not have taken up according to the Burkinabè who have been demonstrating for several weeks. The formation of a new government last December will not have changed the general discontent. In addition to the accusations of part of the population who find him “unable” to counter terrorist groups, several opposition parties had stepped up to demand his departure because of the management of the country described by some, we can read on Le Faso.net, as “calamitous”. Throughout the day of January 23, demonstrators gave their support to the mutineers and erected makeshift roadblocks in several avenues of the capital, before being dispersed by the police, noted AFP journalists.
The day before, incidents had broken out in Ouagadougou and other cities in Burkina Faso between the police and demonstrators who once again defied the ban on gathering to protest against the authorities’ impotence in the face of jihadist violence .
“Contagion Effect”
The coup attempt in Burkina Faso has been at the heart of persistent rumors for several weeks. The recent restriction of Facebook via mobile data, explained for security reasons by the government, the cut off of mobile internet more generally and the difficulties in reaching Burkina in recent days seem to have been harbingers of a situation deteriorating policy.
This January 24, as franceinfo Africa has seen, it is still difficult to reach someone in Burkina Faso. Conversations are often inaudible. After Mali and Guinea, “a third successful coup in West Africa would complicate the task for ECOWAS and West African leaders, because there could be a contagion effect”, Guinean Issaka Souaré told franceinfo, international expert on issues of peace, security and governance and teacher at General Lansana Conté University.
In a press release published on January 23, ECOWAS had stressed that it was following “with great concern” the situation in Burkina Faso, had reaffirmed its support for President Kaboré and had “(called) quiet” while inviting the military to remain “in a republican posture”. The sub-regional organization, which took decried sanctions against Mali where the putschists want a transition of five years, has equipped itself with instruments to put an end to the coups d’etat, recurrent in the region in the years 70-80.