A delegation from ECOWAS, the Economic Community of West African States, heads to Burkina Faso's capital, Ouagadougou, amid great concern in the region following last Friday's coup, the second in a year in the country. Neighboring nations fear that political instability will aggravate jihadist violence in Burkina Faso and leave the agreed holding of elections in two years in the air.
The ousted head of the military junta, Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, who came to power in January through a coup, has finally left the country and traveled to neighboring Togo, after the mediation of religious and community leaders, very influential in the country. Damiba's refusal to relinquish power has sparked intense demonstrations this weekend, which today appear to have subsided.
Army Captain Ibrahim Traore, 34, is the new head of state, the military junta announced on Sunday. The last democratically elected Burkinabe president, Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, was overthrown by Damiba in January 2022 in a climate of frustration over the government's inability to face the violence of the different jihadist groups operating in the country. But Damiba has been equally unable to stop these attacks, which have already killed hundreds of people and forced another two million people to flee their homes.
Traore justified the coup by denouncing that conditions for the military remain very bad on the ground and that Damiba has not done enough to improve the situation. "I go on patrol with my men and we don't have basic logistics," the new military leader told Voice of America. "In some villages, the trees don't have leaves because people eat them. They eat weeds. We have proposed solutions that would allow us to protect those people, but we haven't been listened to," he said.
After the previous coup in January 2022, Cedeao, made up of fifteen West African nations, had reached an agreement to hold presidential elections in Burkina Faso in July 2024, a horizon that is now unclear if it will be maintained. The new leader, Traore, has promised to respect the agreement on the organization of elections and ensure the return of civilians to power even before July 2024 if security conditions allow it.
Traore's supporters have waved the Russian flag and called on Russian military support to help curb jihadist groups, as it has already done in neighboring Mali. However, the Russian mercenary forces have been accused of violating human rights as they pass through the neighboring country, so there are fears that the situation will worsen if they are also involved in Burkina Faso.
Political chaos erupted into riots over the weekend as protests reached the French embassy in the capital and various other French-associated buildings across the country, after the military junta said on television that the ousted Damiba had requested refuge in a French military base in Burkina Faso. France has denied the facts, as well as its participation in any of the events that are taking place in the territory. Likewise, the spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has urged the 4,000 French citizens registered in the country to remain in their homes. "The situation in Burkina Faso is very volatile," she told The Associated Press on Sunday, adding, "There have been security breaches of our diplomatic presence. Unacceptable breaches that we condemn."
Now it remains to be seen if Traore, together with his military forces, will be able to reverse the crisis that the country is experiencing and if he will maintain his commitment to hold elections and not remain in power forever, after what has become the second coup of the year in the country and the fifth since August 2020 in all of West Africa.
