Confusion reigned in Ouagadougou on Saturday 1is October evening after a declaration by the army not recognizing the seizure of power the day before by soldiers who had announced that they had dismissed the head of the junta, Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba.
In its first reaction since Friday evening, the general staff of the armies admitted crossing “internal crisis”but said that the “consultations” were continuing. “Some units took control of certain arteries of the city of Ouagadougou, asking for a declaration of departure from Lieutenant-Colonel Damiba”adds the press release, which specifies that this tension “does not represent the position of the institution”.
For their part, the putschists affirmed on Saturday afternoon in a televised speech that Mr. Damiba was preparing a “counter-offensive” from “the French base of Kamboinsin”a military camp near Ouagadougou where French special forces train their Burkinabé counterparts.
Paris denies helping Damiba and condemns the violence
The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs has “formally denied any involvement in the events underway since yesterday in Burkina”. “The camp where our French forces are located has never hosted Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, nor has our embassy”, continued Paris. For the time being, the fate and whereabouts of Mr. Damiba remain unknown.
At the end of the afternoon, two French institutions were targeted by demonstrators: a fire broke out in front of the French embassy in Ouagadougou, noted an AFP journalist and another in front of the Institute French in Bobo-Dioulasso, according to witnesses in this city in the west of the country. Violence condemned by France, which assured that “the safety of [ses] compatriots »was a ” priority “.
In their statement on Saturday afternoon, signed by Captain Ibrahim Traoré, self-proclaimed new head of the junta on Friday evening, the putschists mention their “firm desire to reach out to other partners ready to help in the fight against terrorism”.
Friday, a few hours before the coup, several hundred people demonstrated in the capital to demand the departure of Mr. Damiba, but also the end of the French military presence in the Sahel and military cooperation with Russia. Moscow’s influence has grown steadily in several French-speaking African countries in recent years, and it is not uncommon to see Russian flags in such demonstrations.
Fear of clashes
After a calm night and morning, the situation became tense again in Ouagadougou at midday, following shootings and the deployment of soldiers in the streets raising fears of clashes between supporters of Mr. Damiba and the new putschists.
The main axes of the city were blocked, in particular the district of Ouaga 2000, which houses the presidency. Helicopters were flying low over the city center, according to a journalist from Agence France-Presse.
Friday evening, soldiers intervened on national television to announce that they were dismissing Mr. Damiba. They announced the closure of the borders, the suspension of the Constitution and the dissolution of the government and the Transitional Legislative Assembly. A curfew has also been put in place from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. local time.
The new self-proclaimed leader of the junta, Captain Traoré, was until now the corps commander of the Kaya artillery regiment, in the north of the country, particularly affected by jihadist attacks. According to several security sources, this coup reveals deep disagreements within the army, the elite unit of the “Cobras” deployed in the fight against jihadists having reproached Mr. Damiba in particular for not mobilizing all the forces on field.
UN, EU, AU and US condemn
The international community, for its part, condemned this new coup. On Saturday, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Gutteres “firmly” condemned in a press release “any attempt to seize power by force of arms”. The African Union (AU) has denounced a “unconstitutional change of government” and the European Union (EU) considered that the coup put “endangering the efforts undertaken for several months” for the transition.
The United States is “deeply concerned” by the situation in Burkina Faso, said the spokesperson for American diplomacy in a press release.
“We urge officials to de-escalate the situation, prevent harm to citizens and soldiers, and return to constitutional order”State Department spokesman Ned Price said, noting that the United States “monitored the situation closely”.
As of Friday evening, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) had “condemned in the strongest terms” a judged coup “untimely at a time when progress has been made towards a return to constitutional order no later than 1is July 2024 ». For the time being, the new putschists have not said whether they intended to respect this transition schedule.
Mr. Damiba had come to power in January by a coup, which overthrew President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, discredited by the increase in jihadist violence. But in recent months attacks affecting dozens of civilians and soldiers have multiplied in the North and East, where cities are now subject to a blockade by jihadists.
Since 2015, recurrent attacks by armed movements affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group have killed thousands and displaced some 2 million people. With the two putsches in Mali in August 2020 and May 2021 and that in Guinea in September 2021, this is the fifth coup in West Africa since 2020.