IRIA News

Military leader and acting President of Burkina Faso Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba stepped down from his office after his country went through a second military coup in 8 months.

The coup against Damiba’s government was led by the self-proclaimed leader and a high-level military official Captain Ibrahim Traore. Influential religious and community leaders mediated talks between Damiba and Traore, resulting in Damiba’s resignation.

According to a statement released by the negotiation mediators on October 3, 2022, Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba “offered his resignation in order to avoid confrontations with serious human and material consequences.”

A spokesperson from the mediation group Hamidou Yameogo told reporters that “President Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba proposed his own resignation in order to avoid clashes.” He further informed that Damiba has resigned on seven conditions. The conditions include a guarantee of safety for him and his allies.

The conditions also called for the incoming leaders to respect and maintain the international agreements, particularly the West African accords that Damida’s government put in place. Another condition took pledged by the incoming leadership was to return the government back to civilian leadership within two years.

 After accepting all seven conditions proposed by Damiba, Traore was officially named the country’s leader. In his first statement after taking the charge, he called for the public “to exercise calm, restraint and prayers.”

The Traore-led military group also released a statement on October 3, 2022, that Traore would remain in charge “until the swearing-in of the president of Burkina Faso designated by the nation’s active forces.” The statement did not specify any date for the selection of the country’s new president or the time until when Traore would act as president.

Damiba led the Patriotic Movement for Safeguard and Restoration as the military leader and stage a coup against the ruling President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré and Prime Minister Lassina Zerbo in January 2022, citing the government’s incompetency to deal with the rising extremism and terrorism in the country. However, the military leadership also failed to contain terrorism and extremism in the country as rebel groups and non-state actors expanded their operations and took control of more than 40% of the country.

Burkina Faso’s new junta leadership has called for calm after last week’s attack on the French Embassy by angry protestors in Ouagadougou. The protestors believed that the wave of increasing extremism in the region is being fueled by the former colonial power. Protesters also accused Damiba of conspiring with France to prepare a counter-offense against Traore’s coup. The French foreign ministry condemned “the violence against our embassy in the strongest terms” by “hostile demonstrators manipulated by a disinformation campaign against us”.

After Traore took power, the officer loyal to the leadership urged people to remain calm and said “We invite you to continue with your activities and refrain from all acts of violence and vandalism… notably that against the French embassy and the French military base.”

Similar to the military group in Mali, that staged a coup in August 2020, Traore’s military group is inclined towards Russia and wants a closer partnership with the Russian forces in the West African region to fight extremism. Hundreds of people took to the streets to support Traore’s takeover, and some waved Russian flags, calling to close cooperation with Russia and the departure of Damiba and France.

The landlocked state of Burkina Faso has been struggling to contain rebel groups, including some associated with al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS). Dissatisfied with Damiba’s performance, Captain Ibrahim Traore headed the country’s second military coup within 8 months to throw off Damiba’s government and put himself as the country’s acting leader. Traore has promised to overhaul the military strategy to fight extremism in the region.