Burkina Faso Opposition Leader Declared Missing

Burkina Faso’s former foreign minister-turned-opposition-leader, Ablasse Ouedraogo has been missing for three days after being taken away from his house by people who said they were police.

This announcement was made by his party on Wednesday.

Ouedraogo also served as deputy director general of the World Trade Organization and held positions at the African Development Bank.

 He is currently head of the opposition party Le Faso Autrement, and has been critical of the military regime that has ruled Burkina following a September 2022 coup.

 Initial plans to deploy the 70-year-old Ouedraogo to the front lines of “the fight against terrorism” in Burkina Faso, where a jihadist insurgency has been raging for years, were made when he was drafted by the military in early November.

His political party at the time condemned the action as retaliation for Ouedraogo’s critique of the nation’s authorities.

Human Rights Watch said in November that the military has enlisted about a dozen dissidents to fight alongside militants.

 Le Faso Autrement said in a statement 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 then, the party stated it has not heard any news of his whereabouts and has been unable to contact him.

 They are also calling for his “immediate release without conditions”.

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