Burkina Faso Gov’t Denies Army Takeover after Barracks Gunfire

By Staff, Agencies

Residents in Burkina Faso’s capital say gunfire erupted late on Sunday in the same area as embattled President Roch Marc Christian Kabore’s home, hours after mutinous soldiers seized control of a military base in Ouagadougou.

Government officials had sought to reassure people that the situation was under control even after exchanges of gunfire at multiple army barracks, including two in Ouagadougou, amid growing frustration with the government’s failure to prevent attacks by armed groups.

Several people in the area around Kabore’s home told The Associated Press and AFP news agencies that they had heard gunfire and there were helicopters hovering overhead. A mutinous soldier also told AP by phone that heavy fighting was under way near the presidential palace, a claim that could not immediately be independently corroborated.

The unrest at Sangoule Lamizana camp, which houses the army’s general staff and a prison whose inmates include soldiers involved in a failed 2015 coup attempt, began as early as 5am [05:00 GMT] on Sunday, according to a Reuters news agency reporter.

The reporter later saw soldiers firing into the air in the camp. A witness also reported gunfire at a military camp in Kaya, about 100km [62 miles] north of Ouagadougou. Shots were heard at another military camp, Baby Sy, in the south of the capital, and at an airbase near the airport, military sources said.

Speaking on national television on Sunday, Defense Minister General Bathelemy Simpore denied rumours that Kabore had been detained, and said the motive behind the gunfire was still unclear.

“The head of state has not been detained; no institution of the country has been threatened,” Simpore said. “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 authorities later declared an overnight curfew from 8pm [20:00 GMT] “until further notice” and the education ministry said schools would be closed on Monday and Tuesday across the country.