Burkina Faso: Heavy gunfire in the presidency district of Ouagadougou

Published on: 09/30/2022 – 12:37 Intense gunfire rang out Friday morning in Ouagadougou, capital of Burkina Faso, from the main military camp in the city and some residential areas. The national television signal was also cut. Shots were heard on Friday, September 30 before dawn, in Ouagadougou, in the district housing the presidency and the headquarters of the military junta in power in Burkina Faso since last January, witnesses reported to AFP. The national television signal was cut off. “I heard heavy bangs around 4:30 a.m. (local and GMT) and there the roads around my house are blocked by military vehicles,” said one. of them, living near the presidency. The origin of these shots remained unknown on Friday morning. Several axes of the Burkinabè capital were blocked in the morning by soldiers, noted AFP journalists. >> To see: West Africa: “a manifest will jihadists to consolidate their presence”These soldiers are stationed at the main crossroads of the city, particularly in the Ouaga 2000 district where the presidency and the military camp of the ruling junta are located, but also in front of the national television headquarters , noted one of them. The national television signal was cut Friday morning, a black screen replacing the programs with a message reading “No video signal” (“No video signal”). Faso is ruled by a military junta that came to power last January in a coup. This putsch, which had overthrown the elected president Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, had started with mutinies in several barracks of the country. The strong man of this junta, Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, had promised to do security its priority, in this country undermined for years by jihadist attacks. But the situation did not improve and the deadly attacks, affecting dozens of civilians and soldiers, continued. This week again, a convoy which was to supply the town of Djibo with food was attacked by suspected jihadists: 11 soldiers died, 28 people were injured and 50 civilians missing, according to the latest official report. Several cities in the North are even now subject to a blockade by jihadists who blow up bridges with dynamite and attack supply convoys circulating in the area. Other attacks have particularly marked public opinion, such as the Seytenga massacre last June where 86 civilians were killed. In early September, another supply convoy was blown up by an improvised explosive device, killing 35 civilians, including many children. Since last year, Burkina has become the epicenter of violence in the Sahel, with more than deadly attacks than in Mali or Niger in 2021, according to the NGO Acled. More than 40% of the territory is outside state control, according to official figures. With AFP