'Good News': Disgruntled Burkina Workers Welcome Coup

In Burkina Faso, hundreds of workers are saying good riddance to an ousted president they say let them starve, and hoping for a brighter future under the soldiers who toppled him

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 29th Jan, 2022 ) :In Burkina Faso, hundreds of workers are saying good riddance to an ousted president they say let them starve, and hoping for a brighter future under the soldiers who toppled him.

Niamba Azara, a woman road sweeper, was among many outside the capital Ouagadougou's labour exchange on Thursday who said they had not received wages for a year.

"We've become beggars," she said.

The coup is "good news for us. The country is in a bad way." Around her, others were also glad a military junta seized power from ex-leader Roch Marc Christian Kabore this week.

"The former president didn't want workers to eat," claimed Assami Ouedraogo, a gardener in the capital.

"We're happy they kicked him out." Burkina Faso has become mired in a security crisis since 2015, with almost daily militant attacks over much of its territory.

Many in the West African country in recent years became increasingly frustrated with the former president's inability to quell the insurgency.

But social grievances also fuelled the unrest that culminated on Monday in the ouster of Kabore, a banker who was elected in 2015.