OUAGADOUGOU (AP) – Security forces fired tear gas at protesters barricading the streets and throwing rocks in Burkina Faso’s capital on Saturday, as anger grows at the government’s inability to stop militant attacks spreading across the country.
Several hundred people marched through downtown Ouagadougou chanting for President Roch Marc Christian Kabore to resign.
“The militants are hitting (the country), people are dying, others are fleeing their homes. … We want Roch and his government to resign because their handling of the country is not good. We will never support them,” said protester Amidou Tiemtore.
Some people were also protesting in solidarity with neighboring Mali, whose citizens are angry at the West African economic regional bloc, ECOWAS, which imposed sanctions on the country after the ruling junta delayed this year’s elections.
Burkina Faso’s protest comes amid an escalation in militant attacks linked to Al-Qaeda and the Daesh that has killed thousands and displaced 1.5 million people.
The violence shows no signs of abating. Nearly 12,000 people were displaced within two weeks in December, according to the UN.
This is the second government crackdown on protests since November and comes after the government shut down access to Facebook last week, citing security reasons, and after arresting 15 people for allegedly plotting a coup.
As tensions mount, the government is struggling to stem the militant violence. Last month the president fired his prime minister and replaced most of the cabinet.
The government’s national security arm is also said to be preparing to reopen negotiations with the militants, according to a military official and a former soldier who did not want to be identified.
The last time the government negotiated secret cease-fire talks with the militants was around the 2020 presidential elections when fighting subsided for several months.
But locals say it’s too late for talks and that the country is being overrun by militants who control swaths of land, plant their flag and make people abide by their law.