African Union suspends Burkina Faso's membership in wake of military coup

The African Union (AU) has suspended Burkina Faso’s membership in the continental bloc in response to a recent military coup and the ouster and ensuing detention of President President Roch Marc Christian Kabore.

In a statement released on Monday, the bloc's 15-member Peace and Security Council said it had voted to suspend Burkina Faso’s participation “in all AU activities until the effective restoration of constitutional order in the country.”

Moussa Faki Mahamat, who chairs the AU’s Commission, had already censured the coup shortly after it happened last week.

The AU’s move comes three days after the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) also suspended Ouagadougou from the grouping and warned of possible sanctions.

An ECOWAS delegation along with a UN envoy is due in Burkina Faso to meet with coup leaders before deciding on their next steps. ECOWAS earlier also sent military chiefs to confer with junta leader Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba.

On January 24, mutinous soldiers detained President Kabore amid rising public anger at his failure to stem militancy ravaging the impoverished nation.  They later released a handwritten letter in which he announced his resignation.

After announcing the overthrow of President Kabore last week, the army said it had suspended the constitution, dissolved the government and the national assembly. The coup leaders claim the country would return to normalcy once the conditions are right.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has expressed “deep concern” over the developments in the West African country, condemning attempts to “take over a government by the force of arms.” In a recent statement released by his spokesperson, the top UN official said he was worried about the safety of President Kabore, whose whereabouts remain unknown since Sunday.

Burkina Faso denies army takeover after mutiny

The government denied the army had seized control of the country after exchanges of gunfire at multiple army barracks.

Since 2015, attacks by armed groups linked to the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group and al-Qaeda have killed more than 2,000 people, while Burkina Faso’s emergency agency says a million and a half people have fled their homes.

Anti-French sentiment is also on the rise in West Africa as the security situation deteriorates despite the presence of French troops in the troubled region. France recently deployed more troops in the Sahel despite opposition to its presence there.

Governments in West and Central Africa are on high alert for coups after successful putsches over the past 18 months in Mali and Guinea. The military also took over in Chad last year after President Idriss Deby died on battlefield.

Burkinabe authorities arrested a dozen soldiers earlier this month on suspicion of conspiring against the government. The arrests followed a shake-up within the army's leadership in December.

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