Heavy gunfire was heard in the Burkina barracks, the army takeover under the authority of the government
The government said gunfire rang out from several military camps in Burkina Faso early Sunday, but it denied the army had taken over.
Heavy weapons explosion at Ouagadougou’s Sangoule Lamizana camp, which houses the army’s general staff and a prison where prisoners include soldiers involved in a failed 2015 coup attempt. starting at least at 5:00 a.m. (05:00 GMT), a Reuters reporter said.
Reporters then saw soldiers shooting into the air in the camp, and the airbase near the Ouagadougou airport. A witness also reported a shooting at a military camp in Kaya, about 100 kilometers (62 mi) north of Ouagadougou.
Burkina Faso’s government confirmed shootings at several military camps but denied on social media that the army had taken over.
Speaking on national television, Defense Minister General Bathelemy Simpore denied rumors that President Roch Marc Kabore had been detained, adding the motive behind the shooting remained unclear.
Simpore said: “The head of state is not arrested; No institution of the country is threatened”. “At the moment, we don’t know their motives or what they are asking. We are trying to contact them,” he said, adding that calm had returned to some barracks.
Governments in West and Central Africa are on high alert for coups following successful negotiations over the past 18 months in Mali and Guinea. The army also took over Chad last year after President Idriss Deby died on the battlefield.
Street protest
Burkinabe authorities arrested dozens of soldiers earlier this month on suspicion of plotting against the government.
The arrests followed a shakeup among the military leadership in December, which some analysts saw as an attempt by President Roch Kabore to bolster his support within the military.
Violence has increased in the West African country by Islamist gunmen with links to al Qaeda and the Islamic State who killed more than 2,000 people last year, leading to violent street protests in November. called on Kabore to resign.
Additional protests were planned for Saturday, but the government banned them and police intervened to disperse hundreds of people trying to gather in Ouagadougou.
The government has suspended mobile Internet service several times, and tensions in November prompted the United Nations special envoy to West Africa to warn against any military takeover.
Among the prisoners at the Sangoule Lamizana camp’s prison was General Gilbert Diendere, who was a top ally of former Burkina Faso president Blaise Compaore. Compaore was ousted in a 2014 uprising.
Diendere led a failed coup attempt the following year against the transitional government. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2019. He is also currently on trial in connection with the murder of Compaore’s predecessor, Thomas Sankara, during a 1987 coup.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and was automatically generated from the feed provided.)
