More than a dozen members of Burkina Faso’s military seized control of state television late Friday, declaring that the country’s coup leader-turned-president, Lt. Col. Paul Henri Sandaogo Damiba, had been overthrown after of only nine months in power.
A statement read by a junta spokesman said Captain Ibrahim Traore is the new military leader of Burkina Faso, a volatile West African country battling a growing Islamist insurgency.
Burkina Faso’s new military leaders said the country’s borders had been closed and a curfew would be in effect from 9pm to 5am. The dissolution of the transitional government and the national assembly was ordered.
Young people chant slogans against the power of Lieutenant Colonel Damiba, against France and pro-Russia, in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. (AP)
Damiba and his allies overthrew the democratically elected president, coming to power with promises to make the country safer. However, the violence has continued unabated and frustration with his leadership has grown in recent months.
“In the face of the constant worsening of the security situation, we officers and junior officers of the national armed forces were motivated to take measures with the desire to protect the security and integrity of our country,” said the statement read by the spokesperson of the joint, head Kiswendsida Farouk Azaria Sorgho.
The soldiers promised the international community that they would respect their commitments and urged the Burkinabe to “go about their business in peace”.
“A meeting will be called to adopt a new transitional constitutional charter and to select a new president of Burkina Faso, whether civilian or military,” Sorgho added.
Damiba had just returned from addressing the UN General Assembly in New York as Burkina Faso’s head of state. The tension, however, had been rising for months. In his speech, Damiba defended his January coup as “a matter of survival for our nation”, even if it was “perhaps reprehensible” to the international community.
Burkina Faso has had its second military coup this year. (AP)
Constantin Gouvy, Burkina Faso researcher at Clingendael, said Friday night’s events “followed escalating tensions within the MPSR ruling board and the army in general over strategic and operational decisions to deal with the spiral of insecurity”.
“MPSR members increasingly felt that Damiba was isolating himself and sidelining those who helped him take power,” Gouvy told The Associated Press.
Gunfire had erupted in the capital, Ouagadougou, in the early hours of Friday and hours had passed without any public appearance of Damiba. Late in the afternoon, his spokesman posted a statement on the presidency’s Facebook page saying that “negotiations are underway to restore calm and serenity.”
Friday’s events seemed all too familiar in West Africa, where a coup in Mali in August 2020 unleashed a series of military power grabs in the region. Mali also experienced a second coup nine months after the overthrow of its president in August 2020, when the leader of the junta sidestepped his civilian counterparts in transition and stood alone in charge.
On the streets of Ouagadougou, some people were already showing their support for the change in leadership on Friday even before the coup plotters hit the state airwaves.
Francois Beogo, a political activist with the Movement for the Refounding of Burkina Faso, said Damiba “has shown his limits”.
“People expected real change,” he said of the January coup.
Burkina Faso in West Africa has been rife with political violence in recent years. (AP)
Some demonstrators expressed support for Russian involvement in curbing the violence and shouted slogans against France, Burkina Faso’s former colonizer. In neighboring Mali, the junta invited Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group to help secure the country, although their deployment has drawn international criticism.
Many in Burkina Faso initially supported the military takeover last January, frustrated by the previous government’s inability to curb Islamic extremist violence that has killed thousands and displaced at least 2 million.
However, the violence has not abated in the months since Damiba took over. Earlier this month, he also took over as defense minister after removing a brigadier general from the post.
“It is difficult for the Burkinabe junta to claim that it has fulfilled its promise to improve the security situation, which was its pretext for the January coup,” said Eric Humphery-Smith, senior Africa analyst from risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft.
Earlier this week, at least 11 soldiers were killed and 50 civilians went missing after a supply convoy was attacked by gunmen in the commune of Gaskinde in Soum province in the Sahel. That attack was “a low point” for Damiba’s government and “probably played a role in inspiring what we’ve seen so far today,” Humphery-Smith added.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Friday that almost a fifth of Burkina Faso’s population “is in urgent need of humanitarian aid”.
“Burkina Faso needs peace, stability and unity to fight against terrorist groups and criminal networks operating in some parts of the country,” Dujarric said.
Chrysogone Zougmore, president of the Burkina Faso Movement for Human Rights, called Friday’s developments “very unfortunate,” and said instability would not help in the fight against Islamic extremist violence.
“How can we hope to unite the people and the army if it is characterized by such serious divisions?” Zougmore said. “It is time for these reactionary military and political factions to stop driving Burkina Faso adrift.”