Burkina Faso suspended from African Union over military coup

dpa Paris The African Union (AU) has suspended Burkina Faso’s membership following last week’s military coup against the country’s democratically elected p...

dpaParisThe African Union (AU) has suspended Burkina Faso’s membership following last week’s military coup against the country’s democratically elected president.The suspension is effective until constitutional order is restored to Burkina Faso, the AU announced on Monday.A delegation from the United Nations and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) arrived in the capital Ouagadougou on Monday to hold talks with the military junta.The military overthrew President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré on January 24 and took power power itself. Kaboré has been held prisoner by the coup leaders ever since.The suspension only adds to Burkina Faso’s deep political crisis, which is mainly due to an Extremist insurgency in the Sahel region, where many militias allied to IS or al-Qaeda operate.Meanwhile, the French Armed Forces said on Sunday that shortly before the military coup last week, some 60 terrorists were “neutralised” in a joint operation between the French operation Barkhane and the Burkina Faso army.The operation, dubbed Laabingol, was carried out between January 16-23 near Burkina Faso’s border with Mali, the French army said in a statement, adding that “nearly sixty terrorists were put out of action.” In a tweet the army used the term “neutralized,” without specifying whether the terrorist were killed or captured.The French army said the operation targeted areas known to shelter armed terrorist groups.The former colonial power France is massively active in West Africa against extremist militias. The current French operation Barkhane includes up to 5,100 soldiers.Several armed groups are active in the states of the Sahel - an area that stretches south of the Sahara from the Atlantic to the Red Sea. Some have sworn allegiance to the terrorist groups IS or al-Qaeda.