1″ October “2022” Aljazeera
Burkina Faso’s military leader was deposed on Friday in the second coup this year.- Burkina Faso has now witnessed two military coups in nine months.
Leader Paul-Henri Damiba was overthrown by some of the same soldiers who backed him in the first takeover in January. They accused Dambia of failing to stop attacks by armed groups.
Burkina Faso: Military officers remove President Damiba in a coup
Burkina Faso military leader Paul-Henri Damiba has been deposed in the country’s second coup in a year, as army Captain Ibrahim Traore took charge, dissolving the transitional government and suspending the constitution.
Traore said on Friday evening that a group of officers had decided to remove Damiba due to his inability to deal with a worsening armed uprising in the country. The captain was previously head of special forces unit “Cobra” in the northern region of Kaya
We have decided to take our responsibilities, driven by a single ideal: the restoration of security and integrity of our territory,” announced soldiers on state television and radio.
It is the second takeover in eight months for the West African state. Damiba took power in a coup in January that overthrew former President Roch Kabore, also due in part to frustration over the worsening insecurity.
Burkina Faso has been struggling to contain rebel groups, including some associated with al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS).
Reporting from Dakar, Senegal, Al Jazeera correspondent Nicolas Haque said with 40 percent of Burkina Faso out of the control of the state, there is growing frustration over security in the country
Haque said the leaders of the last coup also had promised to deal with the armed groups. “There’s a feeling – when I speak to people who are on the streets of Ouagadougou – of deja vu,” he said.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) strongly condemned the coup on Friday, saying that it came at an “inopportune” time when progress was being made towards a return to constitutional order.
“ECOWAS reaffirms its unequivocal opposition to any seizure or maintenance of power by unconstitutional means,” the regional bloc said in a statement shared on social media
Though the deposed leader had promised to make security his priority when he took charge on January 24, violent attacks have increased since March.
In the north and east, towns have been blockaded by rebel fighters who have blown up bridges and attacked supply convoys.
Thousands have died and about two million have been displaced by the fighting since 2015 when the unrest spread to Burkina Faso, which has since become the epicentre of the violence across the Sahel.
The United Nations had voiced concern and appealed for calm.
In September, a particularly bloody month, Damiba sacked his defence minister and assumed the role himself.
With much of the Sahel region battling growing unrest, the violence has prompted a series of coups in Mali, Guinea and Chad since 2020
“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,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said
Burkina Faso: AU chief slams ‘unconstitutional’ change of gov’t
The African Union chief Moussa Faki Mahamat has condemned the “unconstitutional change of government” in Burkina Faso after the second coup in less than a year in which a group of junior army officers removed military ruler Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba.
“The chairperson calls upon the military to immediately and totally refrain from any acts of violence or threats to the civilian population, civil liberties, human rights,” the AU said in a statement on Saturday, calling for the restoration of the constitutional order by July next year “at the latest
Earlier the regional bloc, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) reaffirmed its “unequivocal opposition” to the coup.
The ECOWAS said the coup came at an “inopportune” time when progress was being made towards a return to constitutional order.
“ECOWAS reaffirms its unequivocal opposition to any seizure or maintenance of power by unconstitutional means,” the regional bloc said in a statement shared on social media.
The United Nations has voiced concern about the situation in the country while the European Union denounced the coup
“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,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
The new military leader, Captain Ibrahim Traore, promised to overhaul the military so it is better prepared to fight “extremists”. He accused Damiba of following the same failed strategies as former President Roch Marc Christian Kabore, whom Damiba overthrew in a January coup.
“Far from liberating the occupied territories, the once-peaceful areas have come under terrorist control,” the new military leadership said, adding Damiba failed as more than 40 per cent of the country remained outside government control. Damiba’s fate remains unknown.
The new rulers announced the dissolution of the transitional government, suspension of the constitution, and the closure of borders indefinitely. All political and civil society activities were suspended and a curfew from 9pm to 5am was introduced
