Burkina Faso’s junta lifted Wednesday a nationwide curfew they imposed after seizing power in a coup last month, the military announced. The restrictions were imposed on January 24 after mutinous soldiers arrested President Roch Marc Christian Kabore following a revolt at several army barracks in the capital over the handling of jihadist attacks in the Sahel nation. “The President of the Patriotic Movement for Preservation and Restoration, President of Faso, Head of State, updates… the total lifting of the curfew measure as of this day, February 2,” Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo said in a press release.
The nation’s nightlife will not completely resume as “popular celebrations and festive events are prohibited after midnight from Monday to Thursday and after 2 am from Friday to Sunday”, the junta said in a televised statement. The coup leaders said the measure was taken “in view of the security context and in solidarity with the victims of insecurity”.
Initially imposed from 9 pm to 5 pm, the national curfew was later reduced to midnight to 4 am before being lifted entirely. Like neighbouring Mali and Niger, Burkina Faso has been caught up in a spiral of violence since 2015, attributed to jihadist groups affiliated to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State militant group. The violence has killed more than 2,000 people and forced at least 1.5 million to flee their homes.
Sandaogo also reshuffled the country’s military leadership, a change sought by soldiers in the January mutiny. Former sports minister Colonel-Major David Kabre was appointed chief of the general staff of the armed forces, with Colonel Adam Nere becoming chief of staff of the army.
