Soldiers in Burkina Faso announced over state television Monday that they had seized power in the West African nation and dissolved its government and parliament.
They also said they had closed the country’s borders and promised a “return to constitutional order” within a “reasonable time”.
According to the announcement, “President Roch Kabore had been deposed, the constitution had been suspended, that the government and national legislature had been dissolved, and the country’s borders had been blocked.”
It blamed the worsening security situation and Kabore’s incapacity to unite the West African nation and properly respond to the difficulties it faced, including an Islamist insurgency.
The announcement, signed by Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba and delivered on state television by another officer, stated that the takeover was peaceful and that those detained were being held in a secure place.
Burkina Faso President Reportedly Detained By Military