Roch Marc Christian Kabore, the president of Burkina Faso, is being held by mutinous soldiers, two of the soldiers told The Associated Press early Monday. Heavy gunfire was reported outside the presidential residence in Ouagadougou, the West African nation's capital, on Sunday night and early Monday. The state news broadcaster RTB was under heavy guard Monday morning.
Kabore, elected in 2015 and re-elected in 2020, has faced increasing public frustration over his inability to stop an insurgency by Islamist militants who have taken over sizable parts of the country. A suspected Islamist attack in November killed 53 people, mostly members of the security force. But one of the mutinous soldiers told AP a group of about 100 soldiers has been secretly planning to overthrow Kabore since August. Eleven soldiers were arrested last week for an alleged coup plot.
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