Burkina Faso’s ruling military junta suspends the country’s largest student union, the General Union for Burkina Students (UGEB), for three months, in a step described by rights groups as part of broader curbs on civic freedoms. According to a decree signed on May 26 by the minister of territorial administration, UGEB’s activities are suspended for a renewable period of three months on allegations of “glorification of terrorism.” UGEB, founded in 1960, is one of the country’s oldest and most influential student organizations. The decree provides no public explanation beyond the terrorism-related allegation. Reports say the action follows a UGEB statement that criticizes the junta for not restoring security nearly four years after it seized power, despite what it describes as highly publicized deliveries of military equipment. On the same day, a prosecutor in Ouagadougou announces an investigation into the statement’s author(s) and possible accomplices, citing alleged criminal violations, including “glorification of terrorism.” Human rights organizations and activists say the move reflects increasing subordination of judicial processes to the junta’s political and security agenda. Separate reporting adds that the student union’s leader is arrested alongside the suspension.
Burkina Faso junta suspends student union, citing “glorification of terrorism”
Burkina Faso’s ruling military junta suspends the country’s largest student union, the General Union for Burkina Students (UGEB), for three months, in a step described by rights groups as part of broa...
- Burkina Faso’s territorial administration minister signs a decree suspending UGEB (General Union for Burkina Students).
- UGEB suspension lasts three months and is renewable.
- The government cites allegations of “glorification of terrorism,” related to a UGEB statement criticizing the junta’s security record.
- A prosecutor in Ouagadougou opens an investigation into the statement’s author(s) and potential accomplices.
- Some reporting says UGEB’s leader is arrested as part of the crackdown on independent organizations.
Burkina Faso’s ruling junta has suspended the country’s largest student union and arrested its leader, official sources said on Wednesday – the latest round in a crackdown by the military authorities on independent organisations. The General Union of Students of Burkina (Ugeb) was suspended for three months for “advocating terrorism” by a decree from the Read More: https://punchng.com/burkina-faso-junta-suspends-countrys-student-union/
3 months agoClick to expand Image Burkina Faso soldiers patrol aboard a pickup truck on the road from Dori to the Goudebo refugee camp, on February 3, 2020. © 2020 OLYMPIA DE MAISMONT/AFP via Getty Images The Burkina Faso junta’s suspension of the country’s largest student union is the latest in a series of government crackdowns on freedoms of association and expression.On May 26, the minister of territorial administration signed a decree suspending the activities of the General Union for Burkina Students (L'union générale des étudiants burkinabè, UGEB) for a renewable period of three months on allegations of “glorification of terrorism.”Founded in 1960, UGEB is one of Burkina Faso’s oldest and most influential student organizations. It has long advocated for improved living and study conditions for students, while also playing a prominent role in democratic mobilization, civic activism, and resistance to authoritarian rule, Over the decades, UGEB has become an important voice in broader struggles for accountability and social justice.The government decree provided no explanation for the suspension, though it appears linked to a statement issued by the student union criticizing the junta for failing to restore security nearly four years after taking power, despite receiving “excessively publicized consignments of military equipment.”The day the decree was issued, a prosecutor in the capital, Ouagadougou, announced the opening of an investigation “against the author or authors as well as any potential accomplices,” of the UGEB statement, which he said, “constitutes violations of criminal law, notably the glorification of terrorism.”A Burkinabè human rights activist living in exile said the investigation highlighted the threat to the rule of law in Burkina Faso, with judicial authorities “increasingly subordinated to the junta’s political and security agenda.”Repression by Burkina Faso’s military authorities has resulted in a rapidly shrinking civic space. Since seizing power in a 2022 coup, the junta has suspended independent media outlets, dismantled civil society organizations, restricted political pluralism, and pursued critics through intimidation and judicial harassment. Journalists, opposition figures, civil society activists, and judges have faced, threats, arbitrary detention, unlawful conscription, enforced disappearances, and torture.Silencing students will not address Burkina Faso’s worsening security and governance crisis, including expanded attacks by an Islamist insurgency. The Burkinabè authorities should immediately lift the suspension of UGEB and end their oppression of independent voices and fundamental freedoms.
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