ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

Skip to main content

African Union suspends Burkina Faso after coup last week

People take to the streets of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, on Jan. 25, 2022. (Sophie Garcia / AP) People take to the streets of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, on Jan. 25, 2022. (Sophie Garcia / AP)
Share
OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso -

The African Union has suspended Burkina Faso until constitutional order is restored in the West African country, the organization announced Monday in a tweet.

The suspension of Burkina Faso comes a week after mutinous soldiers ousted democratically elected President Roch Marc Christian Kabore in a coup, citing his inability to stem the violence from Islamic extremists.

The 15-nation West African group ECOWAS already had suspended Burkina Faso last week, making it the third nation in the regional bloc - after Mali and Guinea - to be punished for military takeovers in a year and a half. The suspensions mean the countries cannot participate in any meetings or decision-making, officials said.

While no sanctions have been imposed on Burkina Faso, a joint delegation with ECOWAS and the head of the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel, Mahamat Saleh Annadif, arrived in the capital, Ouagadougou on Monday.

The mediators urged the military junta to prepare a transition to constitutional rule if they wanted to have international support, though a specific time period was not given, according to two officials who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.

A small group from the delegation also visited Kabore, the ousted president who hadn't been seen or heard from since being detained last week by the junta, the officials said.

An ECOWAS summit is scheduled on Thursday in Ghana to discuss the situations in Burkina Faso and Mali, which is also under harsh economic and travel sanctions after its coup leader failed to organize an election within 18 months.

On Monday afternoon, Burkina Faso's junta announced that the leader of the Patriotic Movement for Safeguarding and Restoration, Lt. Col. Paul Henri Sandaogo Damiba, is the country's new president. Reading an announcement on state television, Lt. Col. Cyprien Kabore, a spokesman for the junta, also said the head of the intelligence unit and the army's chief of staff had been fired but didn't say who was replacing them.

Talks with Damiba and ECOWAS began Saturday when a West African military delegation arrived. The junta has said that Kabore has not adequately addressed extremist violence in Burkina Faso that has killed thousands and displaced more than 1.5 million people.

Speaking to the nation last week for the first since seizing power, Damiba said he would restore security and order and unite the country. He warned that the new regime would not tolerate betrayal.

Also Monday, the long-awaited trial on the killing of Thomas Sankara, Burkina Faso's influential leftist leader who was killed more than three decades ago, was suspended as a result of the coup. Prosper Farama, one of the lawyers for the Sankara family, said the trial was paused until the constitution is reestablished, which could be a few days.

The president of the military tribunal said the trial would resume 24 hours after the constitution was reestablished.

CTVNews.ca ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

Police have arrested an 18-year-old woman who allegedly stole a Porsche and then ran over its owner in an incident that was captured on video.

Since she was a young girl growing up in Vancouver, Ginny Lam says her mom Yat Hei Law made it very clear she favoured her son William, because he was her male heir.

Advocates have identified the woman who died this week after being shot by police in Surrey, B.C., as a South American refugee who was raising a young daughter.

Three men were injured after trying to subdue a man armed with a knife during afternoon prayers at a Montreal-area mosque Friday afternoon.

A 15-year-old boy who was the subject of an emergency alert in New Brunswick has been arrested.

The search for a missing six-year-old boy in Shamattawa is continuing Friday as RCMP hope recent tips can help lead to a happy conclusion.

Provincial police investigating the death of a cat that was allegedly set on fire in Orillia earlier this week released surveillance video of a person of interest in the case.

Local Spotlight

Getting a photograph of a rainbow? Common. Getting a photo of a lightning strike? Rare. Getting a photo of both at the same time? Extremely rare, but it happened to a Manitoba photographer this week.

An anonymous business owner paid off the mortgage for a New Brunswick not-for-profit.

They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.

A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.

Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.

The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.

It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.

A Good Samaritan in New Brunswick has replaced a man's stolen bottle cart so he can continue to collect cans and bottles in his Moncton neighbourhood.