A military junta has seized power in Burkina Faso, deposing President Roch Mac Christian Kaboré, suspending the Constitution, dissolving the government and National Assembly and closing the borders.
The announcement was signed by the leader of the coup plotters, Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, and read on national television by an official on behalf of the newly formed Patriotic Movement for Preservation and Restoration (Mpsr). “The Movement, which includes all sectors of the army, decided today to dismiss President Kaboré,” the officer explained, referring to the deteriorating security situation and the inability of the head of state to unite the country and respond to the current problems. The junta also stressed that the coup took place “without violence” and that those arrested are in a safe place.