Burkina Faso: Kabore's failed fight against insurgency

Burkina Faso’s President Roch Marc Christian Kabore had been leading the country since being elected in 2015 after a popular uprising ousted longtime strongman president Blaise Compaore, who was in power for nearly three decades.

Kabore, before winning re-election in November 2020 for another five-year term on campaign vows he would prioritise the fight against the jihadist insurgency, has faced rising public anger about the failure to stop the bloodshed.

A few days ago, the authorities restricted access to Facebook and banned a demonstration calling for the resignation of the president.

The clashes began on Sunday, when soldiers took control of a military barrack in the capital, with the support of several civilians.

Late in the night, gunfire was heard near the president's residence, before giving way to clashes at the presidential palace early on Monday. Mutinous soldiers announced that they were holding Kaboré, without specifying where he was being held.