Following an statement issued, Captain Ibrahim Traore was appointed president of Burkina Faso on Wednesday, following the West African country’s 2nd coup in under nine months.
The impoverished Sahel nation was thrown back into turmoil over the weekend after Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, who had seized power in January, was deposed by Traore, who led a faction of disgruntled junior officers.
It was the latest coup in the Sahel region, most of which, like Burkina Faso, is fighting an Islamist insurgency.
According to an official statement read out on national television by ruling junta spokesman Captain Kiswendsida Farouk Azaria Sorgho, Traore has been appointed as “Head of State, Supreme Chief of the Military Forces.”
Traore will now serve as the “guarantor of national sovereignty, territorial integrity as well as the continuity of the State,” according to the statement.
After a two- day standoff, which was neutralized by religious and community leaders, Damiba fled to Togo.
Burkina Faso is grappling with a seven-year-old jihadist contest that has claimed thousands of lives, displaced nearly two million people, and left over a third of the nation outside government control.
Damiba’s January coup against the elected head of state was prompted by rising resentment within the armed forces.
After appointing himself as interim president, Damiba vowed to make security the government’s top priority, but the attacks resumed, killing hundreds.
Unrest
Representatives from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) concluded a fact-finding mission Tuesday, meeting with religious and traditional leaders as well as Traore.
Traore stated that the ECOWAS visit was to “establish contact with the new transition authorities” as component of the region’s support for Burkina Faso.
Burkina’s new leader may follow in the footsteps of many other fragile regimes in French-speaking Africa as well as as forge strong links with Moscow at the cost of France, the region’s old colonial power and traditional ally.
The dramatic takeover occurred in the midst of violent anti-French protests and the unexpected appearance of Russian flags among protestors.
Protesters’ slogans on the streets included “France get out,” “No to ECOWAS interference,” as well as “Long live Russia-Burkina cooperation.”
The US has warned the military regime of the dangers of allying with Russia, condemning “any effort to try to aggravate the present situation in Burkina Faso.”
“We strongly encourage the new transitional government to follow the agreed-upon timeline for returning to a legitimately elected, civilian-led administration,” a State Department spokesman said earlier this week.
Traore previously stated that he would honor Damiba’s pledge to ECOWAS to restore civilian rule by July 2024.
