On Monday, January 24, 2022, the Burkina Faso army announced the dismissal of President Roc Kabore, the suspension of the constitution, the dismissal of the government, the dissolution of Parliament and the closure of borders.

Since its independence nearly 62 years ago, headed by Maurice Yamyogo, Burkina Faso has witnessed 8 coups, while the civil war claimed thousands of lives and displaced about 1.5 million citizens.

Over the long years, attempts by community leaders in the African country to open a dialogue with the militants, who are described as "Islamic militants", failed because the authorities rejected the idea at its origin.

Between the failure of the government and its repeated defeats in front of the militants, and the expansion of their control to reach what some estimated to be a third of the area of ​​Burkina Faso, with the conviction that external intervention plays the role of nourishing the spread of groups and their proliferation and strengthening and not eradicating them, it was necessary for the explosion to occur, which was expected by many observers.

Musa kingdoms

Since the eleventh or twelfth century, Burkina Faso has been a part of the independent kingdoms known as the "Musa kingdoms", and they are Islamic kingdoms that were formed after the disintegration of the Kingdom of Mali, until it was finally subjected to French colonialism during its advance in Africa.

1896: French colonialism signed a treaty with the Mossi kingdoms that annexed the latter to the colony of Upper Senegal.

1916: It became a single colony known as Upper Volta.

When the Muslims of Upper Volta attempted to gain their independence, their land was divided between Ivory Coast, Mali and Niger.

1947: Upper Volta regains the unity of its land in a single colony.

1960: Upper Volta becomes independent.

August 4, 1984: President Thomas Sankara changes the name of the country to the "Republic of Burkina Faso", which means "the country of pure people".

Burkina Faso is divided into 13 regions, each region administered by a governor. These regions are divided into 45 provinces, and these provinces are divided into 351 provinces.

Capital: Ouagadougou.

Language: French (official), with several African dialects.

Political system: Parliamentary republic.

Currency: CFA franc.

Location: Burkina Faso is located in West Africa and is a landless country, bordered to the north by Mali, to the east by Niger, to the south by Benin, Togo, Ghana and Ivory Coast, and to the west by Ivory Coast and Mali.

Area: 274.200 square kilometers.

Natural resources: limestone, manganese, marble, phosphate, pumice, salt.

Main products: Cotton, beverages, food industry, textiles, gold, corn, millet, rice, livestock.

Climate: Tropical, with warm, dry winters, and hot, humid summers.

Population: 20 million and 903 thousand and 273 people, or 0.27% of the total world population (estimates for the year 2021).

Ethnic distribution: 40% Musi, 60% other castes (Fulani, Gurunsi, Bobo, Sinovo, Mandi).

Religion: More than 60% are Muslims, 19% are Catholics, 15.3% are pagans, 4.2% are Protestant, 0.6% are other, 0.4% have no religion.

The flag: The Burkina Faso flag consists of 3 colours, green, red and yellow.

Army: The Burkinabe Army ranks 129th in the list of the most powerful armies in the world.

8 inversions

January 1966: After 5 years of rule by Yamyogo, head of the African Democratic Rally Party;

The country resented his rule, especially after his government approved financial austerity, which translated into a strike called by the Federation of Trade Unions in protest of the government's dishonesty.

January 4, 1966: Faced with the president's inability to contain the popular tension, the army took control, and General Abu Bakr Sangouli Lamizana became head of state.

1978: The Constitution of the Second Republic was approved, and presidential elections were organized, which Sangoli Lamizana won.

November 25, 1980: The drought inflicted great losses on farmers, and the four main unions for education called for a strike by teachers to protest against arbitrary decisions against their colleagues. Production and government sectors.

November 25, 1980: The Military Committee for Change for National Advancement deployed in the hot spots in Ouagadougou, after which Colonel Sayye Zerbo announced the coup against President Lamizana and overthrew him, which internal and external parties saw as a coup against an exemplary democratic experience in the region.

- November 7, 1982: Two years after the coup of Sayyi Zerbo, a crisis erupted within the Military Committee of the Amendment for National Progress, the two sides of which reached the point of confrontation.

August 4, 1983: The confrontation with Thomas Sankara was decided by the coup d'état of the cradle of power and the presidency of Doctor Jean-Baptiste Ouedraogo.

August 4, 1983: Ouedraogo's lack of political experience and ideological background accelerated his downfall, after he was charged with "serving the interests of foreign domination and neo-colonialism", and he was removed from power, and Thomas Sankara took over.

He established the "National Revolutionary Council" that promised democratic and social reforms, pursued an anti-imperialist foreign policy, and changed the name of the country from "Upper Volta" to Burkina Faso, which means the country of upright men.

"Black Thursday"

- October 15, 1987: Violent confrontations broke out in the presidential palace between loyalists and rebels against the government, on what was known as "Black Thursday", and these confrontations ended with the assassination of Thomas Sankara and the success of a coup orchestrated by the main advisor, Blaise Compaore, who dissolved the Revolutionary Council and imposed a curfew. , while a military doctor announced that Sankara's death was natural.

October 3, 2014: In front of Blaise Compaore's insistence to amend Article 37 of the Burkinabe constitution to allow him a third presidential term, the opposition declared civil disobedience, unions and civil society joined it, and formed a front of resistance to Compaoré's ambitions.

- The circle of opposition protests and public anger widened, and insisted on his departure, and the president sought to impose a state of emergency and dissolve the government, but the General Staff of the Armed Forces intervened and announced the dissolution of the government and parliament and the formation of a transitional body to run the country.

October 31, 2014: President Blaise Compaore announces his resignation.

- Michel Kafando was chosen as president during the transitional period for a year in preparation for elections.

November 18, 2014: Kafando is sworn in.

- September 14, 2015: The National Commission for Reconciliation and Reforms demanded the dissolution of the Presidential Guard of former President Blaise Compaore, and rejected the demands of candidates who worked under him.

September 16, 2015: Presidential Guard forces stormed a government meeting at the presidential palace in Ouagadougou, and detained transitional President Michel Kafando, his prime minister, Isaac Zida, and two ministers.

September 17, 2015: The appointment of General Gilbert Diendere (former intelligence chief), Compaoré's right-hand man, as head of the "National Council for Democracy" as the new governing body of the country.

September 18, 2015: The African Union suspended Burkina Faso's membership and imposed sanctions on the leaders of the military coup, giving them 4 days to restore the interim government or face a travel ban and asset freeze.

September 23, 2015: Denderi announces that he is stepping down from the position and the return of Michel Kafando to the position.

December 29, 2015: CDP President Roch Marc Christian Kabore is elected president.

Early indications of the eighth coup

- November 22, 2020: Voters continued to cast their votes to choose a new president and parliament for the country, in light of an atmosphere of political and security tension, while the opposition expressed its fears of “large-scale fraud” by the camp of President Rosh Kabore, the candidate for a new term, and threatened not to Acknowledgment of the results.

August 2021: Several sources report that the coup attempts began during this month, but they were not successful.

Between May and November 2021: Figures indicate that armed organizations killed 403 people, compared to 162 people in the previous seven months.

November 2021: The armed organizations carried out a massacre in the Burkinabe Army and the militias loyal to it, killing 53 members of the army in one day.

November 2021: The authorities have dismissed many military officials.

December 2021: Armed organizations attacked a military barracks and killed 41 government gendarmerie, sparking protests against what they called "the weakness of government forces and their repeated defeats in front of the armed movements."

The protests erupted at first in the northern regions of the country, as they were affected more than others. President Kabore vowed to hold the negligent officers accountable, stressing that the incident will not pass without an account, but in fact nothing has changed.

Early January 2022: 12 soldiers, including a senior officer, were arrested on suspicion of planning to destabilize state institutions.

Civil protests and army insurgencies

January 23, 2022: Coinciding with civil protests dispersed by the police in a number of locations, the most important of which is the center of the capital, and with demands here and there for President Kabore's departure and the army's call to take power, confrontations erupted and the protesters burned the headquarters of the ruling party and another government building.

Soldiers revolted in a number of military barracks in 3 cities - including Ouagadougou, the capital - angry at the failure of their government to fight the militants, as shooting began shortly before dawn, then the situation returned to calm after hours of confrontations.

- The government announced that it controls the situation completely and that the matter is nothing more than limited, but the soldiers kept the positions they controlled, and at night, numbers of young people gathered around the military barracks demanding the army and urging it to seize power.

- The Minister of Defense said that the disturbances were limited to the military barracks and that the government contacted the rebel soldiers to find out their demands.

A: Perhaps this was the last appearance of the Kabori government, after which it declared a state of emergency and a curfew between eight in the evening and five in the morning, and schools were closed for two days, and the internet was cut off from mobile phones.

- January 24, 2022: After the situation prevailed due to the lack of knowledge of the parties behind the coup, it was confirmed that the force behind the coup was the Special Forces, known as the "Cobra Forces", and the Third Region Commander, Lt. Col. Paul Henry Sandogo Damiba, participated in the operations, who is the mind The mastermind of the operation.

- Damiba has already taken over the Rapid Intervention and Security Group in the north in Wahiguia, and also served in the east. He is a colleague of Lieutenant-Colonel Emmanuel Zangorana, who was arrested on charges of plotting the coup at the end of last December, and he is a graduate of the Military School in Paris.

- The Special Forces announced, via local television, the dissolution of the government and parliament, the abolition of the constitution, and the closure of borders.

- The statement of the putschists held the president responsible for the failure to unite the country in the face of the challenges, and while the sources of the putschists assert that he is in their hands without specifying his location, other sources in the country report that the president, the speaker of parliament and the prime minister are being held at the “Sangoli la Mizan” base located in the capital, Ouagadougou, in When other sources doubt that the president was able to escape outside the country.