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2023-12-29 Africa North
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Burkina Faso Opposition Leader, Ouedraogo Declared Missing After Being Whisked Away By Secret Policemen
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[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Burkina Faso’s opposition leader, Ablasse Ouedraogo, has been declared missing for three days after he was reportedly taken away from his house by people who said they were police officers.
Voice of America reports that the disappearance of Ouedraogo, who served as foreign minister and also as deputy director general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and held positions at the African Development Bank, was made known by his party on Wednesday.
The 70-year-old Ouedraogo is currently the head of the opposition party Le Faso Autrement, and has been critical of the military regime that took over power in the country in a September 2022 coup.
It was reported that in early November, the Burkina military drafted Ouedraogo with the aim of sending him to the front to assist in "the fight against terrorism" in the country where a jihadist insurgency has raged for years.
At the time, his political party condemned the move as retribution for Ouedraogo's criticism of the junta's regime.
Human Rights Watch said in November that about a dozen dissidents have been drafted by the military leaders to participate in the fight against jihadists.
Le Faso Autrement said in a statement released on Tuesday that on Sunday evening, Ouedraogo "was taken away by individuals who presented themselves as members of the national police at his house in Ouagadougou."
Since he was taken away, the party has not had any news of his whereabouts and has been unable to contact him, it said, calling for Ouedraogo's "immediate release without conditions."
Ouedraogo, who served as foreign minister under President Blaise Compaore in 1994-1999, in an open letter published in early October denounced what he said were "restrictions on individual and collective liberty, muzzling of the press" and "decline of democracy" under the ruling junta.
Led by Capt. Ibrahim Traore, the military seized power in the former French colony in 2022, citing failing efforts to quash a jihadist insurgency that erupted in 2015, when a rebellion by Al-Qaeda-affiliated extremists spilled over from neighboring Mali.
In December, the U.S. State Department expressed concern over "growing use of targeted forced conscriptions, shrinking civic space, and restrictions on political parties." 
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Posted by Fred 2023-12-29 00:00||
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File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats
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Posted by Besoeker 2023-12-29 03:43||
2023-12-29 03:43||
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