Burkina Faso Ex-President Roch Kabore Released From Jail

Published April 7th, 2022 - 10:28 GMT
Burkina Faso ex-President Roch Kabore released after over 2 months in detention
Burkina Faso's president Roch Marc Christian Kabore arrives for a dinner at The Elysee Presidential Palace in Paris on November 11, 2021, as part of the 'Paris Peace Forum'. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP)

Burkina Faso’s former President Roch Kabore was released from detention Wednesday after being under house arrest for more than two months following a military coup, the government said.

Lt. Col. Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba led a group of soldiers who deposed Kabore in January. Following the coup, Kabore was detained and later resigned on Jan. 24.

“The government of Burkina Faso informs the public that after consultations started a little more than three weeks ago, the former president of Burkina Faso will return to his home in (the capital) Ouagadougou on April 6,” the transitional government said in a brief statement.

Measures will be taken to ensure his safety, it added.

The regional bloc Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) last month had expressed “deep concern over the continued detention of Kabore since the coup, despite several calls for his unconditional release.”


The bloc had demanded the release of Kabore “no later than March 31, 2022, beyond which it threatened to impose individual sanctions on the transitional authorities.”

Like Mali and Guinea, ECOWAS suspended Burkina Faso from its governing bodies after the military overthrew President Kabore.

This article has been adapted from its original source.

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