ECOWAS suspends Burkina Faso after military coup

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has suspended Burkina Faso in response to Monday’s coup that removed the democratically elected President, Roch Marc Christian Kabore. 

The decision was taken during a virtual extraordinary summit of heads of state of the bloc, held on Friday, January 28, 2022.

The West African leaders demanded the immediate release and protection of President Kabore and all political detainees.

Burkina Faso was suspended from all institutions of the bloc, demanding the immediate restoration of constitutional order.

The ECOWAS leaders urged the army to focus on the role of safeguarding the country’s territorial integrity.

The West African regional bloc, in a communiqué, after the summit strongly condemned the coup, expressing deep concern over the resurgence of military coups in the region, following the coup in Mali, Guinea and now Burkina Faso.

However, no sanctions were immediately announced against Burkina Faso but the heads of state resolved to dispatch fact-finding teams to Ouagadougou for consultations.

The communiqué also said that a delegation of the Committee of Chiefs of Defence Staff (CCDS) will be deployed to Burkina Faso to hold consultations with leaders of the junta, carry out an assessment of the security situation in the country and submit a report to be reviewed by the heads of state.

The ECOWAS Commission will also facilitate the deployment of a joint ECOWAS Ministerial Mission to the country on January 31, to assess the political situation and submit their report to the heads of state.

Another extraordinary summit will be convened on February 3, 2022 in Accra, Ghana to re-examine the situation in the three countries under military rule in the region.

Ten heads of state attended the ECOWAS summit chaired by Ghanaian President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who is the chairperson of ECOWAS. They include President Julius Maada Bio and Liberia’s George Weah.

Also in attendance was the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Jean-Claude Kassi Brou and his African Union counterpart, Moussa Faki Mahamat. The UN Special Representative to West Africa and the Sahel, Mahamat Saleh Annadif, also attended.

The ousting of Kabore followed days of anti-government protests over his government’s supposed failure to deal with insecurities plaguing the Sahelian nation.

The Patriotic Movement for Safeguard and Restoration (MPSR), which is in charge of the country, has not provided any detail plan of a transition.

The new junta leader, Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Damiba, made his first public appearance since taking over on Thursday, in an address to the nation in which he defended his action. 

He blamed it on the inability of the former president to secure the country.