Roch Kabore: African President Reportedly Detained By Soldiers Amid Coup Plot
- There are confirmed reports that Burkina Faso is feared to be under siege by some mutinying soldiers
- Sources claim that President Roch Kabore has been arrested and is being detained by the armed military officers
- The soldiers are asking the Burkina Faso government to provide more funds that will help the military fight insurgents
President Roch Kabore of Burkina Faso was on Sunday, January 23, detained by mutinying soldiers, according to some international sources.
The armed soldiers have also besieged the state television headquarters amid gunshots around the presidential palace and military barracks in the nation's capital, Ouagadougou.
Source: UGC
BBC reports that the soldiers were demanding the sack of Burkina Faso's military chiefs better funding for the military in the anti-terrorism battle.
However, Bathelemy Simpore, the country’s defence minister, has denied that there is a coup and that President Kabore has been arrested, Al Jazeera added.
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“The head of state has not been detained; no institution of the country has been threatened,” Simpore was quoted to have said on national television.
“For now, we don’t know their motives or what they are demanding. We are trying to get in contact with them,” he said, adding that calm had returned to some of the barracks.”
The government has declared a curfew from 8pm to 5:30 am until further notice, while schools throughout the country have been ordered to remain closed for two days.
African president sacks prime minister, dissolves government
Meanwhile, Kaboré on Thursday, December 9, dismissed Prime Minister Christophe Joseph Marie Dabiré and dissolved the government.
A decree by President Kaboré read:
“The functions of the prime minister are terminated, the government is dissolved.”
At that moment there was no indication of when an interim or future head of government will be elected.
This decree came after the president was said to have received the resignation letter of Prime Minister Dabiré.
In another news, a Guinean Army Colonel, Mamady Doumbouya, had seized control of state television and declared that President Alpha Conde’s government had been dissolved and the West African nation’s borders closed.
The announcement came after hours of heavy gunfire erupted near the presidential palace.
Legit.ng gathered that after seizing the airwaves, the mutinous Guinean soldiers vowed to restore democracy and gave themselves a name, The National Committee of Gathering and Development.
Source: Legit.ng
