Faith Nyasuguta
The military in Burkina Faso has revealed it has seized power and toppled President Roch Kaboré.
The announcement was made by an army officer via state television citing the deteriorating security situation.
President Kaboré had faced rising discontent over his failure to stem an Islamist insurgency.
Still, his whereabouts are unclear, but the officer said that all those detained were in a secure location.
The coup comes a day after troops took over barracks, and gunshots were heard in the capital, Ouagadougou.
According to the ruling People’s Movement for Progress (PMP) party, both Kaboré and a state minister had survived an assassination attempt.
Over the weekend, mutinying troops called for the sacking of military chiefs and more resources to fight militants tied to the Islamic State (IS) group and al-Qaeda.
However, the army statement said that Kaboré had failed to unite the nation and to deal effectively with the security crisis which “threatens the very foundations of our nation”.
The issued statement was in the name of a group not heard of previously, the Patriotic Movement for Safeguard and Restoration or MPSR, its French acronym.
Despite being read out by a different officer, the statement was signed by Lt-Col Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, who is believed to be the coup leader and a senior commander with years of experience fighting the Islamist militants.
Further, the statement revealed that parliament and the government had been dissolved, but promised a “return to constitutional order” within a “reasonable time”.
The army has also also announced the shutting down of Burkina Faso’s borders.
UN boss António Guterres has decried the coup and urged the military to “ensure the protection and the physical integrity” of president Kaboré.
Video footage released earlier from the capital appeared to show armored vehicles – reportedly used by the presidency – peppered with bullet holes and abandoned in the street.
Currently, mobile internet services have been disrupted, yet fixed-line internet and domestic wi-fi are working.
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