Burkina Faso.. The army sacks the country's president, dissolves the government, and suspends the constitution

Burkina Faso's army said on Monday it had ousted President Roque Kabore, suspended the constitution, dissolved the government and parliament and closed the border.

The declaration, signed by Lieutenant-Colonel Paul Henry Sandaugo Damiba and read by another officer on state television, said the takeover had taken place without violence.

The announcement indicated that "those who were arrested are in a safe place."

Earlier on Sunday, West African security and diplomatic sources said that rebel soldiers had detained the President of Burkina Faso in an army camp after heavy gunfire at his home on Sunday evening in the capital, Ouagadougou.

In the aftermath, demonstrators came out in support of the rebels, on Sunday, and looted the party headquarters to which Kabore belongs.

The unrest in Burkina Faso follows two successful military coups in the past 18 months in Mali and Guinea, whose army ousted President Alpha Conde from power last September.

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