By Sam Mednick and Arsene K
October 1, 2022 —
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso: More than a dozen soldiers seized control of Burkina Faso’s state television late on Friday, declaring the country’s coup leader-turned-president, Lieutenant Colonel Paul Henri Sandaogo Damiba, had been overthrown after 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 that is battling a mounting Islamic insurgency.
Coup spokesman Captain Kiswendsida Farouk Azaria Sorgho reads a statement in a studio in Ougadougou on Friday.
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 transitional government and national assembly were ordered dissolved.
Damiba and his allies overthrew the democratically elected president, coming to power with promises of making the country more secure. However, violence has continued unabated and frustration with his leadership has grown in recent months.
“Faced by the continually worsening security situation, we the officers and junior officers of the national armed forces were motivated to take action with the desire to protect the security and integrity of our country,” said the statement read by the junta spokesman, Captain Kiswendsida Farouk Azaria Sorgho.
The soldiers promised the international community they would respect their commitments and urged Burkinabes “to go about their business in peace”.
Young men chant slogans against the power of Lieutenant-Colonel Damiba, against France and pro-Russia, in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, on Friday.CREDIT:AP
“A meeting will be convened to adopt a new transitional constitution charter and to select a new Burkina Faso president be it 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. Tensions, though, had been mounting for months. In his speech, Damiba defended his January coup as “an issue of survival for our nation”, even if it was “perhaps reprehensible” to the international community.
Constantin Gouvy, Burkina Faso researcher at Clingendael, said Friday night’s events “follow escalating tensions within the ruling MPSR junta and the wider army about strategic and operational decisions to tackle spiraling insecurity”.
“Members of the MPSR increasingly felt Damiba was isolating himself and casting aside those who helped him seize power,” Gouvy told the Associated Press.
Paul Henri Sandaogo Damiba, Burkina Faso’s ousted president, at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 23.CREDIT:BLOOMBERG
Gunfire had erupted in the capital, Ouagadougou, early on Friday and hours passed without any public appearance by Damiba. Late in the afternoon, his spokesman posted a statement on the presidency’s Facebook page saying that “negotiations are under way to bring back calm and serenity”.
Friday’s developments felt all too familiar in West Africa, where a coup in Mali in August 2020 set off a series of military power grabs in the region. Mali also saw a second coup nine months after the August 2020 overthrow of its president, when the junta’s leader sidelined his civilian transition counterparts and put himself alone in charge.
On the streets of Ouagadougou, some people already were showing support on Friday for the change in leadership even before the putschists took to the state airwaves.
Francois Beogo, a political activist from the Movement for the Refounding of Burkina Faso, said Damiba “has showed his limits”.
“People were expecting a real change,” he said of the January coup d’etat.
Some demonstrators voiced support for Russian involvement in order to stem the violence, and shouted slogans against France, Burkina Faso’s former coloniser. In neighbouring Mali, the junta invited Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group to help secure the country, though their deployment has drawn international criticism.
Many in Burkina Faso initially supported the military takeover last January, frustrated with the previous government’s inability to stem Islamic extremist violence that has killed thousands and displaced at least 2 million.
Yet the violence has failed to wane in the months since Damiba took over. Earlier this month, he also took on the position of defence minister after dismissing a brigadier general from the post.
“It’s hard for the Burkinabe junta to claim that it has delivered on its promise of improving the security situation, which was its pretext for the January coup,” said Eric Humphery-Smith, senior Africa analyst at the 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 Gaskinde commune in Soum province in the Sahel. That attack was “a low point” for Damiba’s government and “likely played a role in inspiring what we’ve seen so far today”, added Humphery-Smith.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Friday that nearly one-fifth of Burkina Faso’s population “urgently needs humanitarian aid”.
“Burkina Faso needs peace, it needs stability, and it needs unity in order to fight terrorist groups and criminal networks operating in parts of the country,” Dujarric said.
Chrysogone Zougmore, president of the Burkina Faso Movement for Human Rights, called Friday’s developments “very regrettable”, saying the instability would not help in the fight against the Islamic extremist violence.
“How can we hope to unite people and the army if the latter is characterised by such serious divisions?” Zougmore said. “It is time for these reactionary and political military factions to stop leading Burkina Faso adrift.”
AP
Burkina Faso coup: Ecowas condemns military takeover
By Natasha Booty & George Wright
BBC News
RADIO TÉLÉVISION DU BURKINABurkina Faso's neighbours have condemned Friday's apparent coup, saying it was "inappropriate" for army rebels to seize power when the country was working towards civilian rule.
Regional group Ecowas described the ousting of leader Lt Col Paul-Henri Damiba as "unconstitutional".
This is the second time this year the country's army has seized power.
Both times, the coups' leaders said they had to step in because national security was so dire.
Burkina Faso controls as little as 60% of its territory, experts say, and Islamist violence is worsening.
Flanked by rebel soldiers in fatigues and black facemasks, an army captain announced on national TV on Friday evening that they were kicking out junta leader Lt Col Paul-Henri Damiba, dissolving the government and suspending the constitution.
Ibrahim Traoré said Lt Col Damiba's inability to deal with an Islamist insurgency was to blame.
"Our people have suffered enough, and are still suffering", he said.
He also announced that borders were closed indefinitely, a nightly curfew was now in place from 21:00 to 05:00, and all political activities were suspended.
"Faced with the deteriorating situation, we tried several times to get Damiba to refocus the transition on the security question," said the statement signed by Traoré.
"Damiba's actions gradually convinced us that his ambitions were diverting away from what we set out to do. We decided this day to remove Damiba," it said.
Since the takeover there has been no word on the whereabouts of the ousted leader.
Lt Col Damiba's junta overthrew an elected government in January citing a failure to halt Islamist attacks, and he himself told citizens "we have more than what it takes to win this war."
But his administration has also not been able to quell the jihadist violence. Analysts told the BBC recently that Islamist insurgents were encroaching on territory, and military leaders had failed in their attempts to bring the military under a single unit of command.
On Monday, 11 soldiers were killed when they were escorting a convoy of civilian vehicles in Djibo in the north of the country.
Earlier on Friday, Lt Col Damiba urged the population to remain calm after heavy gunfire was heard in parts of the capital.
A spokesman for the ousted government, Lionel Bilgo, told AFP news agency on Friday that the "crisis" was in essence an army pay dispute, and that Lt Col Damiba was taking part in negotiations.
But since Friday evening Lt Col Damiba's whereabouts are unknown. France is a traditional ally, but French diplomatic sources have told RFI radio that Lt Col Damiba is not with them nor is he under their protection.
The United States said it was "deeply concerned" by events in Burkina Faso and encouraged its citizens to limit movements in the country.
"We call for a return to calm and restraint by all actors," a State Department spokesperson said.
The Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) has condemned the move, stating it "reaffirms its unreserved opposition to any taking or maintaining of the power by unconstitutional means".
REUTERSIn January, Lt Col Damiba ousted President Roch Kaboré, saying that he had failed to deal with growing militant Islamist violence.
But many citizens do not feel any safer and there have been protests in different parts of the country this week.
On Friday afternoon, some protesters took to the capital's streets calling for the removal of Lt Col Damiba.
The Islamist insurgency broke out in Burkina Faso in 2015, leaving thousands dead and forcing an estimated two million people from their homes.
The country has experienced eight successful coups since independence in 1960.
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