OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters/AFP) – Heavy gunfire could be heard from the main military camp in Burkina Faso’s capital Ouagadougou early on Sunday morning, a Reuters witness said.
The gunfire at the Sangoule Lamizana camp, which houses the army’s general staff, began early in the morning and could still be heard as of 6:30.
A government spokesperson said he also heard gunfire and was seeking information.
“Since 1 am, gunfire has been heard here in Gounghin coming from the Sangoule Lamizana camp,” a soldier in a district on the western suburbs of the capital Ouagadougou said.
Residents there also spoke of gunfire, and said it was increasingly heavy.
Shots were heard at the Baby Sy barracks in the south of the capital and at an air base near the airport, military sources said.
There was also gunfire at barracks in the northern towns of Kaya and Ouahigouya, residents there told AFP.
The Sangoule Lamizana camp houses a military prison where General Gilbert Diendere -- a former right-hand man to deposed president Blaise Compaore -- is serving a 20-year term for an attempted coup in 2015.
He is also on trial for his alleged part in the 1987 assassination of the country’s revolutionary leader, Thomas Sankara, during a putsch that brought Compaore to power.
Compaore, who was overthrown by a popular uprising in 2014, fled to Ivory Coast, and is being tried in absentia for the assassination.
The government of Compaore’s successor, Roch Marc Kabore, swiftly denied that there had been any coup.
“Information on social media would have people believe there was an army takeover,” government spokesman Alkassoum Maiga said in a statement.
“The government, while acknowledging that there was gunfire in some barracks, denies this information and calls on the public to remain calm.”
Defence Minister General Barthelemy Simpore said on nationwide TV “none of the Republic’s institutions has been troubled at the present moment”.
Governments in West and Central Africa are on high alert for coups after successful putsches over the past 18 months in Mali and Guinea.
The military also took over in Chad last year after President Idriss Deby died on the battlefield. Burkinabe authorities arrested at least eight soldiers earlier this month on suspicion of conspiring against the government.
Rising violence in the West African country by terrorist groups linked to al-Qaeda and Daesh killed over 2,000 people last year, prompting violent street protests in November calling for President Roch Kabore to step down.
The Burkinabe government has suspended mobile internet service on several occasions, and the tense situation in November led the UN special envoy to West Africa to warn against any military takeover.