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The day began with gunfire in Ouagadougou, ended with the announcement of the dismissal of the head of the military junta in power since January 2022, Paul-Henri Damiba. Captain Ibrahim Traoré became Burkina Faso’s new strongman.
A group of soldiers announced Friday on Burkina Faso’s national television that the leader of the junta, Paul-Henri Damiba, in power since a coup on January 24, 2022, had been removed from office.
After a day marked by gunfire in the presidential district of Ouagadougou, fifteen soldiers in camouflage suits and some hooded took the floor shortly before 8 pm (local time) in radio booths and on national television channels. .
Captain Ibrahim Traoré read a statement announcing the dissolution of the Government and the Constitution, as well as the closure of the country’s borders until further notice.
“Lieutenant Colonel Damiba has been removed as chairman of the Patriotic Movement for the Safeguarding and Restoration [MPSR, órgano de gobierno de la Junta]”, the army said in a statement read by a captain.
Captain Ibrahim Traoré: the country’s new strongman
The new strong man of the country, appointed president of the MPSR, is from now on Captain Ibrahim Traoré, the statement added.
The coup plotters also announced the closure of the country’s land and air borders from midnight, as well as the suspension of the Constitution and the dissolution of the transitional government and legislative assembly.
A curfew from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. is also in force.
The military invoke “the continuous deterioration of the security situation” in the country.
“We have decided to assume our responsibilities, driven by a single ideal, the restoration of the security and integrity of our territory,” they assured.
In January, after overthrowing former President Roch Kabore, Paul-Henri Damiba had promised to make security his priority in a country that has been ravaged for years by bloody attacks by jihadist groups. Some that have increased in recent months, especially in the north of the country.
Since 2015, recurrent attacks by armed movements affiliated with Al Qaeda jihadists and the Islamic State group, mainly in the north and east of the country, have killed thousands of people and displaced close to two million people.
a day of stress
Friday was a very tense day in the Burkina Faso capital, with shots heard before dawn in the area that houses the presidency and the junta headquarters, according to several witnesses, and then again in the early afternoon.
Several roads in the city were blocked throughout the day by soldiers stationed at the main intersections of the city, including in front of the national television headquarters.
On Friday night, shortly before the televised announcement, a large military presence was deployed in some areas of the capital, AFP journalists confirmed.
A pro-Russian demonstration
In the afternoon, several hundred people, some with Russian flags, gathered in the main square of the Nation of Ouagadougou to demand military cooperation with Russia, reject the French military presence in the Sahel and demand the departure of Lieutenant Colonel Damiba, an AFP journalist confirmed.
Moscow’s influence has grown in several French-speaking African countries in recent years and it is not uncommon to see Russian flags at these demonstrations.
The French Foreign Ministry has asked its citizens in Ouagadougou, estimated at between 4,000 and 5,000, to stay home.
This article was adapted from its French version
