Military takes over Burkina Faso, following four other military coups last year

The military in Burkina Faso has just arrested the president and taken over the country this morning, dissolving their parliament, closing their borders and suspending their constitution:

Here’s more from Reuters:

Burkina Faso’s army said on Monday it had ousted President Roch Kabore, suspended the constitution, dissolved the government and the national assembly, and closed the borders.

The announcement, signed by Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba and read by another officer on state television, said the takeover had been carried out without violence and that those detained were at a secure location.

The statement was made in the name of a previously unheard of entity, the Patriotic Movement for Safeguard and Restoration or MPSR, its French language acronym.

“MPSR, which includes all sections of the army, has decided to end President Kabore’s post today,” it said.

The army broadcast came after two days of confusion and fear in the capital Ouagadougou, where heavy gunfire erupted at army camps on Sunday, with soldiers demanding more support for their fight against Islamist militants.

This coup, at least in part, appears to be about the government’s inability to fight Islamists and follows at least four other military coups in the African continent. Here’s an article from WSJ last year after Sudan’s military coup:

Sudan’s military coup—the fourth in Africa this year—underscores the increasingly complex international backdrop that is helping fuel a surge in military takeovers that have almost disappeared in other parts of the globe.

Military strongmen in Guinea, Chad and Mali have in recent months taken power from weakened governments that were vulnerable to foreign interference and plagued by poor governance, stuttering economies and insecurity. Attempts at military coups have been foiled this year in Madagascar, Central African Republic and Niger.

I don’t normally follow military coups of African countries all that closely, but these coups are beginning to stack up into quite the picture of instability. All this while Russia is planning an invasion of Ukraine and China has the world wondering if it’s going to do the same with Taiwan.

I’m not saying these military coups are necessarily a bad thing, especially if like Egypt they prevent Islamists from taking over. I honestly don’t know much about them so I won’t speculate too much on that.

But there just seems to be a lot of instability going on right now while the West is weak and it makes me wonder what other countries or actors may step up and take advantage of the apparent international chaos to pursue their own desires of coup or conquest. The world may look very different in the next three years.

And don’t forget, we’ve told you many times in the past that 2023 is the year Sultan Erdogan wants to proclaim his new antichrist Ottoman empire 2.0, resurrecting the old Ottoman Empire that was fatally wounded a century ago. And that is only a year away.


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