AU Suspends Burkina Faso Over Military Coup

The African Union has suspended Burkina Faso in response to the January 24 military coup that ousted President Roch Marc Christian Kabore.

According to AFP, the bloc’s 15-member Peace and Security Council said on Twitter on Monday that it had voted “to suspend the participation of #BurkinaFaso in all AU activities until the effective restoration of constitutional order in the country”.

The chair of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, had already condemned the coup the day it happened and before it was clear who was taking charge.

The West African bloc ECOWAS suspended Burkina Faso on Friday and sent a delegation to meet with the ruling junta Saturday.

It will be recalled that the AU had earlier suspended Mali and Guinea, also in West Africa, over military coups.

The three West African countries have witnessed military coups in the past 18 months, and that have prompted AU suspensions.

Sudan, last October is also suspended following a coup in the country last October.

The coup is the latest bout of turmoil to strike Burkina Faso, a landlocked state that has suffered chronic instability since gaining independence from France in 1960.

An insurgency that spread over Mali’s border has killed more than 2,000 people and forced 1.5 million to flee their homes since 2015.

The spate of coups is expected to be a major point of discussion at the AU summit in Addis Ababa this weekend, diplomats say.

AFP

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