Military Takes Over Burkina Faso in latest West African Coup d’état

The military in Burkina Faso announced Monday that it had seized power, suspending the Constitution and ousting the country’s democratically elected president hours after mutinous soldiers surrounded his home.

President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, 64, had been leading Burkina Faso, Ghana’s Northern neighbor, since 2015. But he faced growing criticism from civilians and the military alike over his government’s inability to beat back the Islamist insurgents creating havoc in this nation of 21 million people.

Burkina Faso had remained largely peaceful until 2015. But that year, militant groups launched a violent campaign as part of a broader upheaval in the Sahel, the vast stretch of land just south of the Sahara.

The violence has destabilized large swaths of Burkina Faso, displacing 1.4 million people and causing 2,000 deaths just last year alone. And it led to mounting public frustration with Mr. Kaboré, who, younger people, especially, faulted for the government’s failure to stem the tide of violence.

In the past year, there has been a flurry of coups in Africa, the greatest concentration in years, with takeovers in Guinea, Sudan, Chad and Mali.

The coup in Burkina Faso was announced on state television late Monday afternoon by a junior army officer who said the army had seized power in response to the “exasperation of the people.” Beside him sat Lt. Col. Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, a senior military officer who was introduced to the people of Burkina Faso as their new head of state.

The military said the nation’s land and air borders would be closed, and a nightly curfew imposed until further notice.

There was no mention of Mr. Kaboré’s whereabouts and no indication that he had agreed to step down. “The authorities have been captured without bloodshed and are being kept in a secure place,” the soldier said.

On Sunday, soldiers seized several military bases and the riot police clashed with civilian protesters. In the evening, shots were heard near the president’s home, lasting into the early hours of Monday, setting off hours of uncertainty amid reports that the military was pressuring the president to resign.

In the afternoon, a tweet had appeared on President Kaboré’s account that asked people to stand fast behind their tottering democracy. “Our country is going through a difficult time,” he wrote, urging mutinying soldiers to lay down their arms.

Public support for the mutiny was driven by a perception that Mr. Kaboré was incapable of beating back the Islamist groups that have been spreading mayhem for so long

Blame has also fallen squarely on the former colonial power, France, which has deployed troops to the Sahel region, including Burkina Faso, in an effort to counter Islamist attacks, although the situation continues to deteriorate.

Two months ago, Lt. Col. Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba was put in command of one of three military regions in Burkina Faso, a promotion that gave him considerable power.

On Monday, Mr. Damiba sat stony-faced on state television as a young officer next to him announced that the military was seizing power and ousting the president. The statement he read was signed by Colonel Damiba.

Colonel Damiba was trained at the Military School of Paris, and last year published a book titled “West African Armies and Terrorism: Uncertain Responses?” A blurb posted online says that he has “endured the harsh reality” and “experienced the evolution of armed violent extremism.”

He was a member of the elite force that once guarded President Blaise Compaoré, who ruled for 27 years. That force, the Presidential Security Regiment (known as the R.S.P. by its French initials), was one of the pillars of Mr. Compaoré’s regime but was disbanded after his fall in 2014.

The officer was one of many presidential guard members integrated into the regular army, and his star kept rising until his promotion last November.