Rebels Demand Resignation Of Burkina Faso's President - Reports

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 24th January, 2022) Rioters in Burkina Faso are demanding that President Roch Marc Christian Kabore resign, media report.

The authorities of Burkina Faso have imposed a country-wide curfew following riots in the capital and reports about an attempted coup on Sunday.

LSI Africa said on Twitter in the early hours of Monday that the rioters were demanding the departure of President Kabore, who was under the protection of the Gendarmerie. In another tweet, the media outlet said that the president's family had left Burkina Faso.

The Africa Elects polling and election data aggregator said on Twitter that "heavy gunfire" was heard close to the president's residence in Ouagadougou, as well as in several other districts of the capital city.

Radio France Internationale reported that intense gunfire was heard on Sunday morning in two military camps in Burkina Faso's capital. One of the camps houses a prison where Gen. Gilbert Diendere and other military involved in a failed 2015 coup are being held. Radio Omega also reported gunfire in the city of Kaya northeast of Ouagadougou.

The government confirmed that there was gunfire in Ouagadougou, but denied reports that the military had seized power in the country. Burkina Faso's Defense Minister Barthelemy Simpore also dismissed claims that President Kabore had been detained and said that the situation in the country was under control.