In Ouagadougou, meetings, consultations, discussions have been linked since the coup. Parties, civil society organizations are taking a position in relation to the transition that is beginning. It was confirmed that ex-president Kaboré was under house arrest in a villa in the capital, in good health and well treated according to him. On the other hand, the information is more fragmented concerning the other arrested leaders.
It is not known precisely how many ministers have been placed under arrest or in what places they are. We know that the head of government, Lassina Zerbo, is now under house arrest at his home. As a reminder, he had just moved to the Prime Minister’s Office less than two months ago, after many years of serving as an international civil servant at the United Nations.
The Minister of Defense, General Barthélémy Simporé, is under arrest. He had held the position since last October and it was he who assured Sunday afternoon that the situation was under control. He was in charge of negotiations with the mutineers, discussions that failed.
Third major personality: Alassane Bala Sakandé is also detained. President of the National Assembly since 2017, he had taken the head of the MPP, the presidential party, in September 2021. His name circulated as a candidate for the succession by Roch Marc Christian Kaboré in 2025.
General Diendéré still in prison
Regarding the personalities who were already in prison before the coup, information is lacking, particularly concerning General Gilbert Diendéré. As for the former head of the presidential security regiment (RSP) and Blaise Compaoré’s right-hand man, the rumor that he was released on Monday has been denied. According to one of his lawyers, he is still in Maca, the military prison. While the country’s new leader, Lieutenant-Colonel Damiba, was indeed a member of the RSP at the turn of the 2010s, he had left the regiment and had not taken part in the 2015 putsch attempt against the transition.
As regards Lieutenant-Colonel Emmanuel Zoungrana and the eight other soldiers arrested on January 10 and accused of fomenting a coup, there also, no evolution for the moment. His supposed proximity to the new strongman of the country, with whom he did his military training, has so far not influenced his status as a prisoner.