The President of Burkina Faso Roch Marc Christian Kabore has been arrested and detained today Monday, along with other government officials, AFP news agency reported.
The rebelling soldiers said he failed them in their ferocious battles against armed group like Islamic State linked jihadists and Bokoharam. They supplied this as a major reason for his overthrow.
President Kabore, was arrested alongside the head of parliament, his ministers and reportedly detained at the Sangoule Lamizana barracks in the capital, two security officials said.
Two of the rebellious soldiers told The Associated Press by phone that Kabore was being held in a safe place, but declined to divulge further details.
Kabore has been a leader of Burkina Faso since being elected in 2015, after a popular uprising that toppled longtime leader Blaise Compaore, who was in power for nearly three decades.
He was re-elected in November 2020 for another five-year term, but frustration and anger has been boiling at his inability to curtail the spread of violence across the country.
Attacks linked to al-Qaeda and the armed group ISIL (ISIS) have ratcheted up in the past months, killing thousands and displacing more than an estimated 1.5 million people, with the country’s mulitary suffering several losses in personnel and equipment.
Rebellious soldiers told the Associates Press news agency that the government was disconnected from its forces in the field, that their colleagues were dying, and that they wanted military rule.
An ordinary citzen who spoke on phone said they were seeking better working conditions for Burkina Faso’s military.
“We want adequate resources for the battle” against armed groups, a soldier from the Sangoule Lamizana base said in a voice recording received by AFP.
Earlier in the day, several soldiers staged mutinies at several military barracks accross the country, prompting fears fears of a miltary coup.
Later on, armoured vehicles riddled with bullets could be seen near the presidential palace. Sporadic gunfire was also heared in his residence and the capital Ouagadougou.
However, there are no comments yet from government, which on Sunday denied the highly likelihood of a military coup.
According to information supplied by Aljazeera English, one mutiyning soldier who prefered anonymity revealed that the planning of the coup started way back in August last year, and that planners have been doing it outside the country, in a clandestine way to avoid detection.
The occurance of the coup is largely attributed to poor conditions suffered by soldiers like poor pay and housing conditions.
Several setbacks suffered on the battlefield due to poor equipment, in battles against armed groups created hysteria, provocking the desire for a military leader among soldiers.
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