Burkina Faso’s military government has suspended the General Union of Burkinabè Students (UGEB), the country’s largest and oldest student organisation, for a renewable period of three months and opened a criminal investigation against its leadership after the group published a statement criticising the junta’s failure to restore security. The union reports that around ten of its members, including its president, have been seized by unidentified armed men.
The Ministry of Territorial Administration and Mobility published an order on May 26, 2026, suspending UGEB on allegations of “glorification of terrorism” and “demoralising the defence and security forces.” The decree, signed by Minister of State Emile Zerbo, bars the organisation from all activities across the national territory for an initial three months, renewable at the authorities’ discretion.
The suspension came one day after UGEB published a statement marking the 36th anniversary of the killing of Dabo Boukary, a seventh-year medical student at the University of Ouagadougou who was shot dead on May 19, 1990. In the statement, the union offered a pointed assessment of the country’s deteriorating security landscape.
“Despite the widely publicised delivery of military equipment, the ongoing civil war continues unabated, with terrorist attacks resurging in both scale and intensity,” the statement read. “This lays bare the manifest inability of the MPSR II to restore security in nearly four years since seizing power, and stands in stark contrast to the early pledges of its leader, who had promised to end the war within three months.”
On the same day, Prosecutor Lafama Prosper Thiombiano of the Ouagadougou High Court (TGI Ouaga II) announced the immediate opening of a judicial investigation targeting the authors and any accomplices behind the UGEB statement. The prosecutor cited Articles 312-11 and 361-19 of the Penal Code, which cover “demoralisation of the defence and security forces” and “public glorification of terrorism,” carrying prison sentences of one to ten years and fines of up to 10 million CFA francs (approximately US$17,600).
The suspension and criminal investigation are accompanied by deepening concerns over the fate of UGEB members. The organisation reports that around ten students were seized from the headquarters of the Coalition of Student Organisations (CODE) on the night of May 25–26, 2026, by unidentified armed individuals in civilian clothing.
Wilfried Bazo, president of the UGEB, is among those reported missing after being detained on May 25, a day before the suspension order was published. The organisation also cites the unresolved cases of Idrissa Badini, an activist and student abducted on April 24, 2025, and Edouard Kabré, a third-year student taken on January 1, 2025. None of the three have been brought before a judicial authority or charged with any offence, and the authorities have provided no information on their fate.
Founded in 1960, UGEB is one of Burkina Faso’s oldest and most influential civic organisations. It has played a prominent role in student welfare, democratic mobilisation, and resistance to authoritarian rule across successive regimes. Its suspension under terrorism-related charges for criticising the government’s security record raises serious questions about the proportionality and legality of the authorities’ response.
The crackdown on UGEB fits a broader pattern of systematic repression that has accelerated since Captain Ibrahim Traoré seized power in a September 2022 coup. In recent months, the military government has dissolved or suspended nearly 1,000 civil society organisations under a July 2025 law on freedom of association. In January 2026, all political parties were dissolved. Independent media outlets have been banned or suspended, and journalists and activists have been subjected to abduction, enforced disappearance, and forced military conscription.
The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) condemns the suspension of UGEB and the reported seizure of its members as serious violations of the rights to freedom of expression and association, guaranteed under the Burkinabè Constitution, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Criticising a government’s security record is a legitimate exercise of free expression, not a criminal act. The application of vaguely defined terrorism-related offences to punish political commentary undermines the foundations of democratic accountability and sets a dangerous precedent for civic participation across the Sahel region.
The MFWA calls on the Burkinabè authorities to:
- Immediately lift the suspension of UGEB and discontinue the criminal investigation against its leadership.
- Provide, without delay, verifiable information on the fate and whereabouts of Wilfried Bazo, Idrissa Badini, Edouard Kabré, and all other students reported missing.
- Ensure that all persons deprived of their liberty are brought promptly before a competent judicial authority and afforded all guarantees under national and international law.
- Cease the systematic repression of civil society organisations, journalists, and political actors exercising their fundamental rights.
