 Burkina Faso: from popular uprising to soldiers' revolt Paris (AFP) Jan 24, 2022 - With Burkina Faso's President Roch Marc Christian Kabore being held by mutinous troops, we look at the troubled West African country plagued by unrest and jihadist violence. - 2014: Fall of Compaore - Blaise Compaore takes power in a 1987 coup and cements his position four years later with the first of four election victories. But his 2010 win is contested, as is his attempt to amend the constitution to extend his rule. After being forced from power by street protests in 2014, he takes refuge in Ivory Coast and on November 29, 2015, former prime minister Kabore is elected in his place. - 2015: Jihadist attacks - From 2015, the north of the country, the capital Ouagadougou and the east begin to suffer regular kidnappings and attacks by jihadist groups affiliated to the Al-Qaeda or Islamic State groups. On January 15, 2016, an attack on the Splendid hotel and a restaurant in Ouagadougou leave 30 dead, most of them Westerners, shocking the country. In November 2017, the French-backed G5 anti-jihadist force starts joint cross-border operations in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. - 2018: Attacks intensify - On March 2, 2018, simultaneous attacks target French forces and the former colonial power's embassy, leaving eight soldiers dead and 85 people injured. The end of that year sees a state of emergency declared in several provinces. From 2019, the attacks become almost daily, prompting the sacking of the head of the armed forces and formation of a new government. On December 24, 42 people die in an attack by 200 jihadists on a military base in Arbinda, near the border with Mali. - 2020: Kabore re-elected - Kabore is re-elected on November 22, 2020, but insecurity means hundreds of thousands of people are unable to vote. The opposition accuse the president of election fraud and refuse to recognise the result. - 2021: Growing unrest - Between 132 and 160 people are killed in a June 2021 raid on the northeastern village of Solhan in the worst attack in six years. The killings spark demonstrations against insecurity and the ministers of defence and security are both fired. On August 18, an attack in the north leaves 65 civilians and 15 police dead. In October the president replaces the military chief of staff. A trial also begins into the killing 34 years earlier of charismatic former president Thomas Sankara, the "African Che Guevara". Compaore, the main accused, is not present. On November 14, at least 57 people, 53 of them gendarmes, are massacred in an assault on a police station at Inata in the north, sparking further protests. Burkinabe and Niger military say they eliminated around 100 "terrorists" during an operation on their common border between November 25 and December 9. - New government - December 8, the prime minister resigns and hands the reins to Lassina Zerbo, who urges national unity. On December 23, 41 people are killed in yet another jihadist attack in the north. The past month sees n a further spate of attacks and rumblings of discontent in the ranks of the armed forces echoing those in the wider population. - 2022: Military revolt - On Saturday police in Ouagadougou clash with demonstrators at a banned protest over the government's handling of the jihadist threat. The following day soldiers at several army barracks stage a revolt but the government denies a coup is underway. On Monday Kabore is arrested by mutinous soldiers after gunshots are heard near his private residence.
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Burkina Faso's president has survived an assassination attempt, his party said Monday, with his whereabouts unclear following a mutiny by soldiers that African powers condemned as a "coup attempt".
The European Union issued a statement calling for the "immediate" release of President Roch Marc Christian Kabore.
Soldiers rose up at several army bases across the West African state on Sunday, demanding the sacking of the military top brass and more resources to fight the Islamist insurgency that erupted in 2015.
Kabore, in power since 2015 and re-elected in 2020 on a pledge to prioritise the fight against the insurgency, has faced rising public anger about failure to stop the bloodshed in the poor landlocked country.
On Monday, the People's Movement for Progress said Kabore was the victim of an "aborted assassination attempt". A minister also survived an attempt on his life and the president's home was sacked as the country "heads with each passing hour towards a military coup by force", it said.
An AFP correspondent early Monday saw three bullet-ridden vehicles outside Kabore's residence, with traces of blood visible on one of them.
Security and government sources earlier gave contradictory accounts of Kabore's whereabouts.
He was "in the hands of soldiers" along with parliament speaker Alassane Bala Sakande and some cabinet members, one security source told AFP. The information was confirmed by a second security source.
But a government source later said that Kabore had been "exfiltrated" from his home late Sunday by his presidential guard "before the arrival of armed elements who fired on the vehicles of his convoy".
By midday, no statements were forthcoming from the mutinous soldiers.
A message was posted on Kabore's Twitter account on Monday urging "those who have taken up arms to lay them down in the greater interest of the nation." It was impossible to know whether the president wrote the tweet himself, or in what circumstances.
- 'Coup attempt' -
The tweet added: "We must settle our contradictions through dialogue and listening."
Around 10 hooded troops deployed in front of the headquarters of the national broadcaster RTB on Monday, an AFP journalist said. It was not immediately clear if they were from the mutineers or had been sent in by the government.
RTB broadcast entertainment programmes on Monday.
Burkina Faso has seen several coups or attempted coups. In neighbouring Mali -- where the insurgency began before crossing the border -- the military toppled the civilian government in 2020.
On Monday, West African states in the ECOWAS grouping described the latest volatility as a "coup attempt" and held "soldiers responsible for (Kabore's) physical well-being".
The African Union said its commission chief, Moussa Faki Mahamat, "strongly condemns the attempted coup d'etat against the democratically elected president."
France, the former colonial power in Burkina Faso, urged its citizens in the country to "avoid any travel" and said that two Air France flights scheduled for late Monday had been cancelled.
On Sunday, gunfire was heard at numerous military bases, including two in Ouagadougou and later in the day near Kabore's Ouagadougou residence, and witnesses reported seeing a helicopter overhead. Mobile internet was cut the same day.
A group of protesters supporting the soldiers set up makeshift roadblocks on several main streets in the capital before being dispersed by police, AFP journalists said.
- Soldier demands -
The rebellious troops presented a list of demands, which emphasised the need for a better anti-jihadist strategy but did not mention trying to oust Kabore.
"We want adequate resources for the battle" against Islamist extremists, a soldier from the Sangoule Lamizana base in Ouagadougou said in a voice recording received by AFP.
The disaffected soldiers wanted top generals "replaced", better care for wounded troops and more support for the families of soldiers killed in battle, the spokesman for the mutinous troops added in the anonymous recording.
On Saturday, police used tear gas to disperse banned protests, arresting dozens.
Then on Sunday, demonstrators set fire to the headquarters of the ruling party. Fresh protests were staged on Monday.
Before reports of the president's arrest, the government had denied an "army takeover".
In response to the unrest, authorities declared an overnight curfew from 8:00 pm (2000 GMT) "until further notice" and ordered schools shut on Monday and Tuesday.
The camp where Kabore was reportedly held also houses a military prison where General Gilbert Diendere -- a former right-hand man to deposed president Blaise Compaore -- is serving a 20-year term for an attempted coup in 2015.
The latest turbulence coincides with a jihadist insurgency that swept in from Mali in 2015, overwhelming Burkina's poorly trained and badly equipped armed forces.
Around 2,000 people have died, according to an AFP tally, while around 1.5 million people are internally displaced, according to the national emergency agency CONASUR.
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