Ablassé Ouédraogo, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Burkina Faso and former deputy director general of the World Trade Organization (WTO), was kidnapped on Sunday by “individuals” claiming to be members of the “national police”, his party announced policy on Wednesday, calling for his “immediate release”.
Aged 70, Ablassé Ouédraogo was kidnapped by individuals presenting themselves as belonging to the national police from his home in Ouagadougou on Sunday December 24 around 6:30 p.m., wrote his party, Le Faso differently, in a press release.
Three days after his kidnapping, the party said it had “no news from its president and no one has been able to speak to him” or “know exactly where he is”, adding that it is calling for his “immediate and unconditional release”.
Faso otherwise, which “strongly condemns and denounces the kidnapping” of the former minister, affirms that it will hold the perpetrators of this kidnapping responsible for any attack on the physical or moral integrity of Mr. Ouédraogo.
At the beginning of November, the party denounced the army’s decision to “requisition its president, Ablassé Ouédraogo”, to “send him to the front” in “the fight against terrorism”.
According to Faso Autre, this requisition is “a sanction” applied in response to the “positions” taken by the politician.
Ablassé Ouédraogo, former Minister of Foreign Affairs under Blaise Compaoré (1994-1999), joined the opposition and created his own party. He is very critical of the military regime installed since a coup at the end of September 2022 and led by Captain Ibrahim Traoré.
In an open letter published at the beginning of October, he denounced “the restrictions on individual and collective freedoms, the stifling of the press” and “the decline of democracy” that he has seen since the coup d’état.
The NGO Human Rights Watch declared in November that at least a dozen dissidents had been “requisitioned” in Burkina Faso to “participate” in the fight against jihadists. In addition, several cases of kidnapping have been reported in recent months by local sources in Ouagadougou, including that of Daouda Diallo, a human rights defender kidnapped by men in civilian clothes in early December.
Since 2015, Burkina Faso has been caught in a spiral of violence perpetrated by jihadist groups linked to the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda. According to the latest estimates from the international NGO Armed Conflict Location Action (Acled), which records victims of conflicts around the world, more than 17,000 civilians and soldiers have been killed.
Pending further information regarding the situation of Ablassé Ouédraogo, it is essential to support his family and request that all necessary measures be taken to ensure his safe release. It is imperative that the Burkinabe government does everything possible to end this wave of violence and guarantee the safety of all citizens.