United Nations
Reuters
The United Nations Security Council expressed “serious concern about the unconstitutional change of government” in Burkina Faso in a statement more than two weeks after a military coup deposed President Roch Kabore.
The 15-member council met behind closed doors on Tuesday to discuss the 24th January coup. In a statement, agreed by consensus late on Wednesday, the Security Council called for the release and protection of Kabore and other government officials.
People show their support for the military after they deposed President Kabore outside state Television RTB headquarter in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, on 24th January. PICTURE: Reuters/Vincent Bado/File photo.
The coup in Burkina Faso was the latest in a series of military takeovers in Myanmar, Mali, Sudan and Guinea and attempted coups in several other countries.
UN chief Antonio Guterres assailed in October what he called “an epidemic of coup d’etats” and urged the Security Council to act to deter them. Guterres condemned any attempted takeover in Burkina Faso as the coup was underway on 24th January.
“The members of the Security Council expressed concern over the negative impact of unconstitutional changes of government in the region, increase in terrorist activities and the dire socio-economic situation,” the council said in Wednesday’s statement.
The Security Council – which has the ability to impose sanctions or authorize military action – has long been split on how to approach various conflicts, with the United States and other Western council members pitted against Russia and China.
Meanwhile, Guinea-Bissau’s President Umaro Sissoco Embalo said on Thursday that three people previously arrested by US authorities for drug trafficking were behind an attempted coup last week.
Former navy admiral Bubo Na Tchuto and his aides Tchamy Yala and Papis Djeme were arrested in 2013 in a high-profile US drug sting on a luxury yacht off the West African coast for conspiring to ship cocaine into the United States. The three pleaded guilty to conspiracy in a US court and were later released after serving their sentences.
Embalo was leading a cabinet meeting on 1st February when armed men stormed the compound in what he described as a well-funded and tightly planned assassination attempt. Eleven people ended up dead, mostly among the government’s security team.
He told reporters that he saw Yala and Djeme at the government palace during the coup attempt and that Na Tchuto was not present but was also behind the plot.
“During the coup, I see them. I see them with my eyes. They want to make a coup and kill me and the prime minister and all the government,” Embalo said. “When the shots were being fired in the government palace, Bubo was at the Marine Corps headquarters…and I heard the assailants say we are going to call him to send us reinforcements.”
He also said that among those involved were the same people who killed former president João Bernardo Vieira in 2009. Rebels from Senegal’s Casamance region were also involved, Embalo said.
Guinea-Bissau has seen around 10 successful or failed coups since gaining independence from Portugal in 1974. It is a major transit point for Latin American cocaine headed for Europe, which has contributed to its instability.
– With AARON ROSS and ALBERTO DADO.
