Burkina Faso: Reps decry coups in West African sub-region
…urge FG, UN to impose sanctions
House of Representatives on Wednesday condemned the recent military coup in Burkina Faso and urged the federal government to strongly impose strong sanctions, and mobilise other nations and stakeholders to do same on the country.
Expressing concern over the unhealthy development which is fast sweeping through the West African hemisphere, the House also called on the United Nations and its agencies as well as the international community to impose total sanctions on countries where coups d’état have taking place in the sub region.
The resolution came on the heels of a motion titled “The Creeping Resurgence of Military Coups in the West African Sub-region” presented at Wednesday plenary by Hon. Julius Ihonvbere.
In his presentation, Ihonvbere noted with high apprehension the frightening emerging trend of Military coups in the West African sub-region, the most recent coup in Burkina Faso being part of a resurgence of ‘’a Coup Culture’’ in West Africa.
He said: “For the fourth time in only six months, violence has facilitated the transfer of power in West Africa with Guinea, Mali, (twice in the past seventeen months) and Chad seeing new leaders emerge from their respective Militaries, and Burkina Faso a few days ago, witnessed the overthrow of President Roch Kabore.
“This illegal takeover of power from democratically elected government violates several national constitutions, international conventions and protocols established by multilateral organizations, donors and development partners.
“Since Nigeria, the traditional power house in the sub-region transited from military to civilian in 1999, there has been a strong sense that the days of Military coups are effectively over, but with this emerging trend, that positive trajectory is now being reversed with the rather quick successive coups in the aforementioned countries.
“Coups subvert political processes, promote tensions and violence, suffocate democratic spaces, suppresses basic freedoms, contains civil society and promotes corrupt undemocratic governance.
“If the trend is not immediately and firmly checked, it could erode the democratic achievements made thus far, distort the emerging culture of constitutionalism, and promote opportunistic and undemocratic actors in the region, and by extension the continent”.
Adopting the motion, the parliament urged civil society organisations across the sub-region to condemn coups, support civil society, political parties, and parliaments to work for the immediate restoration of democratic governance in the affected nations.
