Sunday October 2, 2022
Angry protesters have attacked the French Embassy in Burkina
Faso's capital of Ougadougou after supporters of the West African nation's new
coup leader accused France of harbouring the ousted interim president, a charge
French authorities have vehemently denied.
A group of soldiers appeared on state television late on
Friday announced that Lieutenant-Colonel Paul Henri Sandaogo Damiba had been
overthrown, less than nine months after he'd mounted a coup himself in Burkina
Faso.
While his whereabouts remained unknown late on Saturday,
local time, a new statement attributed to Mr Damiba was posted on the Burkina
Faso presidency's Facebook page directed at the newly declared leader, Captain
Ibrahim Traore.
"I call on Captain Traoré and company to come to their
senses to avoid a fratricidal war that Burkina Faso does not need," said
the statement attributed to Mr Damiba, who — unlike other ousted West African
leaders — has yet to tender a resignation.
Earlier on Saturday, comments by a junta spokesman had set
into motion an outburst of anger in Ouagadougou.
"Damiba has tried to retreat to the Kamboinsin French
military base to prepare a counteroffensive in order to sow divide amongst our
defence and security forces," said Lieutenant Jean Baptiste Kabre, reading
a statement on behalf of the new junta's leadership.
Video on social media showed residents with lit torches
outside the perimeter of the French embassy and other images showed part of the
compound ablaze.
In Burkina Faso's second-largest city, Bobo-Dioulasso, angry
crowds also vandalised the French institute.
France has denied any role in the events unfolding in its
former colony, and warned its citizens to stay at home amid a
"confusing" situation in Ouagadougou.
"We condemn in the strongest terms the violence against
our diplomatic presence in Burkina Faso," the French Foreign Ministry said
in a statement late on Saturday. "Any attack on our diplomatic facilities
is unacceptable."
In an earlier statement on Saturday, the ministry said:
"The camp where the French forces are based has never hosted Paul Henri
Sandaogo Damiba, nor has our embassy."
Mr Traore, the 34-year-old army captain who was named in
charge after the Friday evening coup was announced on state television, said in
interviews on Saturday that he and his men did not seek to harm Mr Damiba.
"If we wanted, we would take him within five minutes of
fighting and maybe he would be dead, the president. But we don't want this
catastrophe," Mr Traore told the Voice of America.
"We don't want to harm him, because we don't have any
personal problem with him. We're fighting for Burkina Faso."
He later told Radio Omega: "We have no intention to
bring Damiba to justice. We only wish that he would go rest because he is tired
and, as for us, we are going to continue to do the work."
As uncertainty prevailed, the international community widely
condemned the removal of Mr Damiba, who himself overthrew the country's
democratically elected president in January.
US State Department spokesman Ned Price said Saturday that
the United States was "deeply concerned by events in Burkina Faso".
"We call on those responsible to de-escalate the
situation, prevent harm to citizens and soldiers, and [to] return to a
constitutional order," Mr Price said.
The African Union and the West African region bloc known as
ECOWAS also sharply criticised the developments.
"ECOWAS finds this new power grab inappropriate at a
time when progress has been made," the bloc said, citing Mr Damiba's
recent agreement to return to constitutional order by July 2024.
After taking power in January, Mr Damiba promised to end the
Islamic extremist violence that has forced two million people to flee their
homes in Burkina Faso.
But the group of officers led by Mr Traore said on Friday
that Mr Damiba had failed and was being removed.
The new junta's leadership said it would commit "all
fighting forces to refocus on the security issue and the restoration of the
integrity of our territory".
But it remains to be seen whether the junta can turn around
the crisis.
Concerns already were mounting on Saturday that the latest
political volatility would further distract the military and allow the jihadis
to strengthen their grip on the once-peaceful country.
Still, by some in Burkina Faso's military, Mr Damiba was
seen as too cosy with former coloniser France, which maintains a military
presence in Africa's Sahel region to help countries fight Islamic extremists.
Some who support the new coup leader, Mr Traore, have called
on Burkina Faso's government to seek Russian support instead.
"One point of contention that has divided the MPSR
[junta], the army — and indeed the population — for months is the choice of
international partners," said Constantin Gouvy, Burkina Faso researcher at
Clingendael, the Netherlands Institute of International Relations.
"Damiba was leaning toward France, but we might see the
MPSR more actively exploring alternatives from now on, with Turkey or Russia
for example," Mr Gouvy added.
In neighbouring Mali, the coup leader has invited Russian
mercenaries from The Wagner Group to help with security, a move than has drawn
global condemnation and accusations of human rights abuses.
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.
Chrysogone Zougmore, president of the Burkina Faso Movement
for Human Rights, called the latest overthrow "very regrettable",
saying the political instability would not help in the fight against Islamic
extremist violence.
"How can we hope to unite people and the army if the
latter is characterised by such serious divisions?" Mr Zougmore asked.