The president of Burkina Faso is said to be detained by the military.
Burkina Faso’s President, Roch Kaboré, is said to have been detained by mutinous soldiers.
Some soldiers in the West African country have asked that military officials be fired and that greater resources be allocated to combating Islamist insurgents.
Gunshots were reported overnight near the presidential palace and at barracks in Ouagadougou, the capital.
The administration, on the other hand, refuted reports of a military coup or the president’s detention.
According to foreign media sources, President Kaboré was arrested at a military barracks by mutinous soldiers.
Armoured vehicles – supposedly deployed by the presidency – look to be blasted with gunshot holes and abandoned on the street in video from the capital.
The city is calm again, according to BBC correspondent Simon Gongo in Ouagadougou. Soldiers, on the other hand, have encircled the state television offices.
Despite a government-imposed curfew, hundreds of civilians came out to support the soldiers.
Some of them set fire to the headquarters of the ruling party.
The turmoil comes less than a week after 11 soldiers were detained on suspicion of organizing a coup.
However, in Burkina Faso, resentment has been building since the government failed to completely crush an Islamist insurgency in the nation in 2015.
The number of persons slain by suspected jihadists reached new highs in November, when 53 people were killed.
A prohibited march to protest the government’s apparent failure resulted in dozens of arrests on Saturday.
Mutinying soldiers in Burkina Faso have made a number of requests, including the dismissal of the army’s chief of staff and the director of the intelligence service, the deployment of more troops to the front lines, and improved circumstances for injured soldiers and their families.
On Sunday, Defence Minister Gen Barthelemy Simpore batted down prior reports that the president had been kidnapped, as well as the nature of the turmoil in general.
Meanwhile, state television characterized the sound of gunshots at military barracks as the acts of a few unhappy troops rather than a large-scale brawl or coup attempt.
On Monday, despite internet outages, there was still a lot of uncertainty in the city, with neither side issuing a firm stance.
source: BBC
