The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on Friday suspended Burkina Faso following a recent military coup, reported Reuters.
The suspension has been announced just a few days after mutinous soldiers ousted democratically elected President Roch Marc Christian Kabore.
The West African bloc had a virtual meeting on Friday to discuss the situation in the Sahel nation in the wake of the coup and the unknown state and whereabouts of Kabore.
Ghanaian President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who is also the current chairman of the bloc, called the recent spate of coups in West Africa a direct violation of the democratic tenets.
“The rest of the world is looking up to us to be firm on this matter,” he said.
ECOWAS leaders called for the release of ousted President Kaboré, who is currently placed under house arrest.
A mission of ECOWAS chiefs of staff will visit Burkina Faso on Saturday, while ministerial-level envoys will reach the coup-hit country on Monday. Another ECOWAS summit will take place on February 3 in Accra.
Burkina Faso is the third ECOWAS member nation to be punished for a military takeover in only 18 months. Mali and Guinea, which experienced military takeover in August 2020 and September 2021, respectively, were also suspended by ECOWAS. The bloc recently imposed tougher sanctions on Mali following a proposal by the military junta to hold elections in 2026 instead of February this year.
On Thursday, Burkina Faso’s UNIR-MPS party appealed to ECOWAS to not impose political and economic sanctions on the country ahead of the meeting arguing they will exacerbate the population’s already dire socio-economic and political situation.
Though the group of military officers behind Burkina Faso’s takeover, the Patriotic Movement for Safeguard and Restoration (MPSR), has not detailed its plans for a transition, it said it would propose a timeline for a return to constitutional order within a reasonable time frame.
