SW News: On Monday, January 24, a faction of soldiers in Burkina Faso announced that they had seized power after ousting incumbent president Roch Marc Christian Kabore. Addressing the nation on Monday, Capt. Sidsore Kaber Ouedraogo, the spokesperson of the Patriotic Movement for Safeguarding and Restoration (MPSR), said that they had suspended the constitution, dissolved the government and the national assembly, and closed the country’s borders.

The spokesperson also said that the military coup occurred “without any physical violence against those arrested” and added that all the detained are “held in a safe place, with respect for their dignity.”

On Sunday, the country witnessed gunfire across army bases demanding more government support. Locals around the presidential residence reported heavy gunfire on Sunday night. It is said that the coup was triggered by President Kabore’s inability to tackle the deadly Islamist insurgency over the past six years. As a result, militants affiliated with Al-Qaida and the Islamic State have terrorized the West African nation, taking the lives of thousands of innocent civilians and soldiers. The Islamist insurgency has worsened over the past few months, killing thousands and displacing around 1.5 million people.

Speaking on RTB, the state television, the spokesperson of the military faction said they would propose a calendar for a return to constitutional order “within a reasonable time frame, after consultations with various sections of the nation.” The communique was signed by and read out in the presence of Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, who is apparently the new military leader. Kabore first became the president of Burkina Faso in 2015 and was re-elected in November 2020 for another 5-year term.