World Tour - Soldiers stage coup in Burkina Faso

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: World Tour. Here’s our reporter in Africa, Onize Ohikere.

ONIZE OHIKERE, REPORTER: Coup in Burkina Faso—We start today here in West Africa … with another coup. This time in Burkina Faso.

AUDIO: [Soldiers announcing government takeover]

Soldiers appeared on state television Monday to announce the takeover. A spokesman for the junta said it decided to seize control of the country to “fight for its territorial integrity, its recovery, and its sovereignty.”

The soldiers promised a “return to constitutional order” within a “reasonable time.”

AUDIO: [Sound of changing marchers]

After news of the coup broke, people took to the streets of the capital, Ouagadougou, to support the military. But international condemnation came swiftly. Ravina Shamdasani is a spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Human rights.

AUDIO: In the face of the security threats and the tremendous humanitarian challenges facing the country, it is more important than ever to ensure that the rule of law, constitutional order, and the country’s obligations under international human rights law are fully respected.

The soldiers are reportedly holding President Roch Marc Christian Kabore, his ministers, and the head of parliament at a military barracks in the city.

Burkina Faso has endured several coups or attempted coups in recent years. Frustration over ongoing jihadist violence fueled the latest takeover.

It is the fourth coup in Central and West Africa in the last year.

Aid supplies arrive in Tonga—Next we go to the South Pacific.

AUDIO: [Sound of ship in port]

Relief supplies from Japan, Australia, and New Zealand are flowing into Tonga. The underwater volcano that erupted on January 15th blanketed the island kingdom with a layer of toxic ash.

Seth Fagan is a C-130 pilot with New Zealand’s Air Force.

AUDIO: Flying in I guess the initial impressions were that the island looked a lot greyer than a lot of the Pacific islands usually do, so you could definitely see a layer of ash that was settled over most of the greenery.

The ash poisoned drinking water and destroyed crops.

NASA estimates the volcano’s eruption was hundreds of times stronger than the atomic bomb dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima during World War II. The blast spewed debris as high as 25 miles into the atmosphere and completely wiped out at least two villages.

AUDIO: [Sound of boat motor, water lapping]

Across the Pacific, crews in Peru are working to clean up an oil spill blamed on the volcano.

About 6,000 barrels of crude spilled when the waves rocked a tanker unloading about 19 miles north of Lima.

AUDIO: [Woman speaking Spanish]

Veterinarians at the city’s zoo are working to save birds and penguins pulled from the water. The oil fouled fisheries vital to the local economy. And it drenched beaches popular with tourists. During the months of January through March, nearly 5 million people normally visit the area.

Journalist murdered in Mexico—And finally, we end today in North America.

AUDIO: [Man speaking Spanish]

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador vowed Monday that his government would fully investigate the murder of a journalist who had previously asked for his help.

Lourdes Maldonado López was shot to death in her car in the border town of Tijuana on Sunday. Lopez Orbrador cautioned against jumping to conclusions about who might have killed her.

In addition to covering corruption and politics in Tijuana, Maldonado was locked in a years-long labor dispute with the owner of a media company. He later became the elected governor of Baja California as a member of the president’s political party.

In 2019, Maldonado attended López Obrador’s daily morning news conference and told him she feared for her life.

Maldonado was the second journalist killed in Tijuana this week and the third killed in Mexico this month.

That’s it for this week’s World Tour. Reporting for WORLD, I’m Onize Ohikere in Abuja, Nigeria.

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