The party of ousted Burkina Faso president Roch Marc Christian Kabore on Thursday demanded his release, saying his house arrest is more like detention.
“January 24 – March 24: it’s exactly two months since the military coup d’etat and president Roch Marc Christian Kabore has no longer been free to move,” Alassane Bala Sakande, head of the People’s Movement for Progress (MPP), told reporters in a press conference.
The conditions of his house arrest had recently been “hardened”, he added.
“For us this is not a house arrest… He is only allowed one hour with his children, he cannot make a telephone call, accept the visits he wants. President Kabore is in detention,” said Sakande, who was the speaker in the national assembly before the coup.
Kabore’s release has already been demanded by the United Nations, African Union, and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
Last week, West African envoys visited Kabore and reported that he was doing well.
The 64-year-old was elected in 2015 after a popular uprising threw away long-time dictator Blaise Compaore, who had seized control in a putsch in 1987.
Kabore was re-elected in 2020, although he received widespread criticism over the poor West African country’s Islamist struggle.
On Tuesday, a transitional assembly led by junta leader Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba resumed office in Ouagadougou.