Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), Feb 3 : Burkina Faso’s new military strongman, Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, has announced the reopening of the country’s land border and the lifting of the curfew imposed during the coup in January. “The President of the Patriotic Movement for Safeguard and Restoration, the President of Burkina Faso, the head of state, informs the nation of the complete cancellation of the land borders closure in Burkina Faso,” the government information service said in a decree posted on Facebook on Wednesday evening. The decree said the lifting of restrictions was effective starting Wednesday.
The curfew was imposed following the military seizure of power.. The Burkinabe authorities still prohibit mass celebrations “for security reasons” after 12 am from Monday to Thursday and after 2 am from Friday to Sunday. On January 23, intense gunfire was heard in two military camps in Burkina Faso’s capital of Ouagadougou. One of the camps housed a prison where General Gilbert Diendere and other military involved in a failed 2015 coup were held.
Diendere was freed, while President Roch Marc Christian Kabore and parliament leader Alassane Bala Sakande, his potential successor, were captured by mutinying soldiers. The military chose Damiba to take over as president.
