Ousted Burkina Faso president Kabore being held by army is ‘physically well’, says party source
- Kabore’s state and whereabouts have been a key issue since he was overthrown by mutineering soldiers on Monday, with the UN leading calls for his release
- Kabore ‘is still in the hands of the army, not in a military camp, but in a presidential villa under house arrest’, a source said
Burkina Faso’s ousted president, Roch Marc Christian Kabore, “is physically well” and is being held by the army in a villa, a source in his party said on Wednesday.
Kabore’s state and whereabouts have been a key issue since he was overthrown by mutineering soldiers on Monday, with the United Nations leading calls for his release.
“President Kabore is physically well, but I cannot say anything about his state of mind,” said a source in Kabore’s People’s Movement for Progress (MPP) party.
Kabore “is still in the hands of the army, not in a military camp, but in a presidential villa under house arrest”, the source said.
“He has a doctor available … [and] access to his mobile phone, but under surveillance, obviously,” the source added.
The West African bloc ECOWAS has lashed out at the “military coup” – the third in one of its 15 nations in less than 18 months – and said it will meet virtually for an extraordinary summit on the Burkina Faso crisis on Friday.
Kabore, 64, was elected in 2015 following a popular revolt that forced out strongman Blaise Compaore, who came to power in a putsch in 1987.