More than 300 military officials, politicians and community leaders are meeting in Burkina Faso to chart the country’s future following its second coup in less than a year.
They are expected to agree that elections should be held by July 2024.
Demonstrators in the capital, Ouagadougou, say they want coup leader Captain Ibrahim Traoré to be the interim president.
He says he doesn’t want the job.
Like his predecessor, Lt-Gen General Paul-Henri Damiba, Capt Traoré justified the coup by saying the authorities were failing to deal with Islamist insurgents.
The French Institute, a major cultural hub in Ouagadougou, has been vandalized by protesters in Burkina Faso.
Windows and doors were broken, security guards’ room was set on fire, computer equipment were burnt and looted after the attack on October 12, 2022.
The French Institute was attacked after the coup in early October, that ousted Burkina Faso’s Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Damiba, who had seized power only in January 2022.
Artist Kantala laments the destruction, saying that the arson will “set us back a bit”. “People don’t know, but the French Institute welcomes more Burkinabè artists than foreign artists […] it’s for Burkina so let’s not confuse politics and culture” he added.
The people of Ouagadougou are reacting to the announcement that Captain Ibrahim Traoré, leader of the 30 September coup d’etat, has taken power.
“It is a good thing that he assumes (power)” says one man. Traoré was designated head of state and supreme commander of the national armed forces on national television, in a statement entitled “Acte fundamental”.
“My problem is that as a young person, he needs advice”. says another citizen by the name Moumouni Ouédraogo. ”As he is a young person he needs advice. Without advice, it can’t work. We hope that all he has to do is listen to the advice and he’ll be fine.” Ouédraogo stressed.
Just a week ago, 34-year-old Ibrahim Traore was an unknown, even in his native Burkina Faso.
But in the space of a weekend, he catapulted himself from army captain to the world’s youngest leader — an ascent that has stoked hopes but also fears for a poor and chronically troubled country.
Traore, at the head of a core of disgruntled junior officers, ousted Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, who had seized power just in January.
The motive for the latest coup — as in January — was anger at failures to stem a seven-year jihadist insurgency that has claimed thousands of lives and driven nearly two million people from their homes.
On Wednesday, Traore was declared president and “guarantor of national independence, territorial integrity… and continuity of the State.”
At that lofty moment, Traore became the world’s youngest leader, wresting the title from Chilean President Gabriel Boric, a whole two years older.
Traore’s previously unknown face is now plastered on portraits around the capital Ouagadougou.
His photo is even on sale in the main market, alongside portraits of Burkina’s revered assassinated radical leader, Thomas Sankara, and of Jesus.
– Military career –
Traore was born in Bondokuy, in western Burkina Faso, and studied geology in Ouagadougou before joining the army in 2010.
He graduated as an officer from the Georges Namonao Military School — a second-tier institution compared to the prestigious Kadiogo Military Academy (PMK) of which Damiba and others in the elite are alumni.
Traore emerged second in his class, a contemporary told AFP, describing him as “disciplined and brave.”
After graduation, he gained years of experience in the fight against jihadists.
He served in the badly-hit north and centre of the country before heading to a posting in neighbouring Mali in 2018 in the UN’s MINUSMA peacekeeping mission.
He was appointed captain in 2020.
A former superior officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, recounted an incident that occurred in 2020 when the town of Barsalogho in central Burkina was on the verge of falling to the jihadists.
The highway into Barsalogho was believed to have been mined, so Traore led his men on a “commando trek” across the countryside, arriving in time to free the town, he said.
When Damiba took power in January, ousting elected president Roch Marc Christian Kabore, Traore became a member of the Patriotic Movement for Preservation and Restoration (MPSR), as the junta chose to call itself.
– Discontent –
In March, Damiba promoted Traore to head of artillery in the Kaya regiment in the centre of the country.
But it was a move that ironically would sow the seeds of Damiba’s own downfall.
The regiment became a cradle of discontent, and Traore, tasked by his colleagues with channelling their frustrations, made several trips to Ouagadougou to plead their case with Damiba.
Disillusionment at the response turned into anger, which appears to have crystallised into a resolve to seize power after an attack on a convoy in northern Burkina last month that left 27 soldiers and 10 civilians dead.
“Captain Traore symbolises the exasperation of junior officers and the rank and file,” said security consultant Mahamoudou Savadogo.
The new president faces a daunting task in regaining the upper hand over jihadist groups, some affiliated with Al-Qaeda and others with the Islamic State. They have steadily gained ground since they launched their attacks from Mali in 2015.
Yet Traore has promised to do “within three months” what “should have been done in the past eight months,” making a direct criticism of his predecessor.
Savadogo warned that one soldier overthrowing another illustrates “the deteriorating state of the army, which hardly exists anymore and which has just torn itself apart with this umpteenth coup d’etat”.
Traore’s takeover also comes amid deliberations with ECOWAS the regional bloc which is seeking to ensure and guide the sahelian state back to civilian rule within a set deadline. “I don’t even want Captain Traoré to respect the ECOWAS calendar. We don’t want the ECOWAS calendar. We don’t want ECOWAS. ECOWAS has never solved a problem in Africa.” one man in Ouagadougou says.
Alongside the ECOWAS issue is the struggle for influence between France and Russia in French-speaking Africa, where former French colonies are increasingly turning to Moscow.
Demonstrators who rallied for Traore in Ouagadougou during last weekend’s standoff with Damiba waved Russian flags and chanted anti-France slogans.
Traore seems — for now — to bring hope to many in a country sinking steadily in the quagmire.
On Monday, L’Observateur Paalga newspaper, went with a decidedly biblical headline: “Ibrahim, the intimate friend of God, will he be able to save us?”
A West African mission that went to assess Burkina Faso‘s situation following the coup left Ouagadougou “confident” despite gatherings by demonstrators who criticised its visit.
The delegation on Tuesday met Capt Ibrahim Traoré, the military leader who on Friday overthrew Lt Col Paul-Henri Damiba, who himself came to power in a coup in January.
They met at the Ouagadougou airport where dozens of demonstrators were calling for more Russian cooperation and chanting anti-France and anti-Ecowas slogans.
Former Niger president Mahamadou Issoufou, who was part of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) delegation as a mediator, said they would stand by the Burkinabè people in the very difficult ordeal they were going through.
Over the weekend he had said the country was “on the brink of collapse”.
After initially opposing his removal from office, Lt Col Damiba agreed to resign on Sunday and left for Lomé, the capital of Togo.
The coups have been triggered by worsening insecurity amid frequent jihadist attacks.
Since 2015, Burkina Faso has been the target of regular attacks by armed groups affiliated with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.
Angry demonstrators in Burkina Fasoattacked the French embassy in the capital, Ouagadougou on Saturday, 1 October.
They were protesting in support of the country’s new military leader, Ibrahim Traore and accused France of harbouring interim president Lt Col Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, who was ousted on Friday.
Uncertainty continued in Ouagadougou on Saturday evening after a statement by the army said it did not recognise the seizure of power the previous day by soldiers.
The whereabout of Damiba is unclear but French authorities have denied any involvement and condemned the violence.
In a statement, France said the security of its compatriots was its priority following the military coup.
Meanwhile, protesters shouted angry, anti-France slogans including: “We don’t want France anymore. We no longer want France to be in Africa” and “Down with France.”
Some added: “We call on Russia” and suggested Russian intervention was preferable to any involvement by their former colonisers.
One demonstrator said: “We want frank cooperation with Russia. That’s why we hold the three flags. The Russian, Malian and Burkinabe flags.”
Another explained: “Damiba has failed and the people are not happy. And we are indeed going out today to show the whole world that we do not want this man anymore.
“At the moment, we have very seasoned soldiers who have taken power and we will support them until terrorism is driven out of our country.”
Damiba had promised to tackle jihadist violence but critics accused him of being too close to France which maintains a military presence in the region.
French spokeswoman Anne-Claire Legendre said condemned the violence against the embassy and said the protests were “the work of hostile demonstrators, manipulated by a campaign of disinformation against us.”
She added: “Our nationals have been instructed to exercise the utmost vigilance and to remain at home.”
On Friday night in Burkina Faso, armed soldiers wearing fatigues and masks came on television to confirm the overthrow of President Paul-Henri Damiba, the second coup in the unstable West African nation this year.
The announcement capped a day that began with gunfire near a military camp in the capital Ouagadougou, an explosion near the presidential palace, and interruptions to state television programming.
It is a pattern that has become increasingly familiar in West and Central Africa in the past two years as Islamist insurgents wreak havoc across the arid expanses of the Sahel region, killing thousands and eroding faith in weak governments that have not found a way to beat them back.
Mali, Chad, and Guinea have all seen coups since 2020, raising fears of a to backslide towards military rule in a region that had made democratic progress over the past decade.
Burkina Faso’s new leader is army Captain Ibrahim Traore. In a scene that replicated Damiba’s own power grab in a Jan. 24 coup, Traore appeared on television surrounded by soldiers and announced the government was dissolved, the constitution suspended and the borders closed. He declared a nightly curfew.
Damiba’s whereabouts were unknown on Friday evening.
Traore said a group of officers who helped Damiba seize power in January had decided to remove their leader due to his inability to deal with the Islamists. Damiba ousted former President Roch Kabore for the same reason.
“Faced with the deteriorating situation, we tried several times to get Damiba to refocus the transition on the security question,” said the statement signed by Traore and read out by another officer on television.
The statement said Damiba had rejected proposals by the officers to reorganise the army and instead continued with the military structure that had led to the fall of the previous regime.