ECOWAS suspends Burkina after following the military coup

ECOWAS suspends Burkina after following the military coup

Reports say, West Africa’s regional bloc (ECOWAS) has suspended Burkina Faso’s membership following the coup which saw the removal of President Roch Marc Kabore.

In line with the suspension, some sources told reporters that a delegation was sent to Ouagadougou from ECOWAS. Other reports also indicated that, some other groups have equally condemned the seizure of power.

The Burkinabe coup leader, Paul- Henri Sandaogo Damiba said in his first address that, “When the conditions are right, according to the deadline that our people will define in all sovereignty, I commit to a return to a normal constitutional order.”

The 15-member states bloc has been busy in recent times due to the recurrence of military coups across West Africa. In a speech, the acting ECOWAS chairman, President Nana Akufo-Addo stated that, “the happenings in the region tell us that not everybody has accepted democracy as the preferred mode of governance.”

He went further to say that the entire world was watching to see the firm position that ECOWAS would take on the matter following its decision on the imposition of sanctions on Mali and Guinea after the military coups which took place in August 2020 and September 2021, respectively.

Though in the case of Mali, ECOWAS went a notch higher in stiffening the sanction after the military Junta in Mali breached the agreement for a transition of power to civil rule. The stiffening involved closing borders of members as well as freezing accounts to restrict any form of financial transactions.