African Union suspends Burkina Faso over coup

The African Union said Monday it had suspended Burkina Faso in response to the January 24 coup that ousted President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, Report informs, citing France 24.

The bloc's 15-member Peace and Security Council said on Twitter it had voted "to suspend the participation of #BurkinaFaso in all AU activities until the effective restoration of constitutional order in the country".

Moussa Faki Mahamat, chair of the African Union Commission, had already condemned the coup before the military junta officially announced that it had ousted Kaboré.

Burkina Faso's coup is the latest bout of turmoil to strike the impoverished, landlocked state that has suffered chronic instability since gaining independence from France in 1960.

The coup leader, Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Damiba, has not set a timeline for Burkina Faso's return to constitutional order besides a vague promise to do so "when the conditions are right".