US pauses $450M aid for Burkina Faso over president’s ouster

By SAM MEDNICK
Associated Press

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) — A U.S. government agency is pausing $450 million in assistance to the West African nation of Burkina Faso, where mutinous soldiers overthrew the democratically elected president last week. The Millennium Challenge Corporation is an independent U.S. agency that provides grants and assistance to countries that meet standards for good governance. It said Monday that it is withholding the aid because of the uprising against President Roch Marc Christian Kabore. The military junta has not yet commented on the U.S. aid pause. The U.S. government says it is the largest international donor to war-weakened Burkina Faso, which is plagued by jihadist violence that has killed thousands and displaced nearly 1.5 million people.