Tensions remain high in the Burkinabe capital and the situation could not be more vague. Several major axes of Ouagadougou were blocked this Saturday noon by soldiers, shortly after a burst of gunfire heard in the city center by several witnesses. This renewed tension comes the day after a coup d’etat during which soldiers removed from his functions as head of the junta, Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, himself who came to power by a coup end January.
In the aftermath, the soldiers who took power accuse France of helping Damiba in the preparation of a counter-offensive. In a brief televised address, the putschists declared that he “would have taken refuge within the French base in Kamboinsin to “sow disorder within our defense and security forces”. The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs reacted in a press release and “formally denies any involvement in the events underway since yesterday in Burkina”. And to add: “The camp where our French forces are located has never hosted Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, any more than our embassy. »
Later in the evening, the ministry added that “the security of our compatriots” is France’s “priority”. Paris has also condemned the “violence” against its embassy with the greatest firmness. Demonstrators lit fires in front of the entrance and tried to get inside.
The situation in Ouagadougou is also tense again this Saturday. This Saturday evening, the Burkinabè army ended up recognizing an “internal crisis” and indicated that the “consultations” are continuing. “Following an internal crisis within the National Armed Forces, some units took control of certain arteries in the city of Ouagadougou, demanding a declaration of departure from Lieutenant-Colonel Damiba. The consultations are continuing, ”indicates this text from the General Staff of the Armed Forces.
Earlier, several witnesses reported hearing a burst of gunfire around the United Nations roundabout in the city center in the late morning. Soldiers then, like Friday, resumed their positions to block the main axes of the city and in particular the district of Ouaga 2000 which notably houses the presidency. Helicopters hovered over the city center at midday.
Traders who had reopened their shops on Saturday morning when calm had returned closed shop and rushed to leave the city center. Friday evening, after a day peppered with shooting in the district of the presidency in Ouagadougou, about fifteen soldiers in fatigues and for some hooded spoke, shortly before 8:00 p.m. (GMT and local) on the set of national radio and television.
The European Union and the African Union condemn the coup
They removed from office Colonel Damiba – whose fate remained unknown on Saturday – and announced the closure of land and air borders as well as the suspension of the Constitution and the dissolution of the government and the Transitional Legislative Assembly. A curfew from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. has also been put in place. The soldiers invoked “the continuous deterioration of the security situation” in the country. The new head of the junta, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, was until now the corps commander of the Kaya artillery regiment, in the north of the country, particularly affected by jihadist attacks.
The coup that occurred yesterday was denounced this Saturday by the European Union. The coup “endangers the efforts undertaken for several months, in particular on the part of ECOWAS, to supervise the Transition”, lamented the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell in a press release. “The European Union calls for compliance with the commitments made, which were the basis of the agreement reached with ECOWAS on July 3, in order to support Burkina Faso towards a return to constitutional order at the latest on July 1, 2024”.
For his part, the President of the Commission of the African Union (AU), the Chadian Moussa Faki Mahamat, condemned on Saturday “the anti-constitutional change of government” in Burkina Faso. “The president calls on the military to immediately and completely refrain from any act of violence or threats to the civilian population, to public freedoms, to human rights,” the AU said in a brief statement.