African Union Suspends Burkina Faso Following Coup d’Etat

Rabat – The African Union (AU) announced today the suspension of Burkina Faso from all AU activities until the “effective restoration of constitutional order in the country.”

The Peace and Security Council of the AU (AUPS), the body’s organ in charge of conflicts and security issues, announced the decision in a tweet earlier today.

“The Council decides in line with the relevant AU instruments (AU Constitutive Act, AUPSC Protocol, African Charter on Democracy, Elections & Governance), to suspend the participation of Burkina Faso in all AU activities until the effective restoration of constitutional order in the country,” AUPSC said.

AUPSC’s decision came after Military officers ousted the president of the West African country Roch Marc Christian Kabore on January 23.

Gunfire erupted in front of the presidential residence in Ouagadougou, the country’s capital, and in several military barracks around the city.

Soldiers who seized control of the military base in the Burkinabe capital have suspended the constitution, dissolved the government, and closed the borders.

With this decision, the AU is walking in the footsteps of the 15-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which on January 28 announced the suspension of Burkina from all regional activities. The West African had also imposed sanctions on Mali and Guinea for coups d’etat in August 2020 and September 2021, respectively.

Mahamat Saleh Annadif, UN special representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS), is expected to meet today with the military junta that has been in power in Burkina Faso for a week now.

Annadif will carry out a joint mission of the situation in Burkina Faso with an ECOWAS delegation led by Shirley Ayorkor Botchway, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ghana alongside President of the ECOWAS Council of Ministers, UNOWAS said in a press release.