Protesters on Saturday attacked the French embassy in Burkina Faso’s capital, after supporters of the West African nation’s new coup leader accused France of harboring the ousted interim president, a charge French authorities denied.
A group of soldiers appearing on state television late on Friday announced that Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba had been overthrown less than nine months after he mounted a coup.
While his whereabouts remained unknown late on Saturday, a new statement attributed to Damiba was posted on the Burkinabe presidency’s Facebook account directed at the newly declared leader, Captain Ibrahim Traore.
Photo: Reuters
“I call on Captain Traore and company to come to their senses to avoid a fratricidal war that Burkina Faso does not need,” said the statement attributed to Damiba, who unlike other ousted West African leaders has yet to tender a resignation.
Earlier on Saturday, comments by a junta spokesman set an outburst of anger in Ouagadougou into motion.
“Damiba has tried to retreat to the Kamboinsin French military base to prepare a counteroffensive in order to sow divide amongst our defense and security forces,” said Lieutenant Jean Baptiste Kabre, a spokesman of the new leadership.
Video on social media showed residents with lit torches outside the perimeter of the French embassy and other images showed part of the compound ablaze.
In Burkina Faso’s second-largest city, Bobo-Dioulasso, crowds also vandalized the French institute.
France has denied any role in the events unfolding in its former colony, and warned its citizens to stay at home amid a “confusing” situation in Ouagadougou.
“We condemn in the strongest terms the violence against our diplomatic presence in Burkina Faso,” the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs said in a statement. “Any attack on our diplomatic facilities is unacceptable.”
In an earlier statement, the ministry said that “the camp where the French forces are based has never hosted Paul Henri Sandaogo Damiba nor has our embassy.”
Traore, 34, who was named in charge after the Friday evening coup was announced on state television, said in interviews on Saturday that he and his followers did not seek to harm Damiba.
“If we wanted, we would take him within five minutes of fighting and maybe he would be dead, the president. But we don’t want this catastrophe,” Traore told the Voice of America. “We don’t want to harm him, because we don’t have any personal problem with him. We’re fighting for Burkina Faso.”
He later told Radio Omega: “We have no intention to bring Damiba to justice. We only wish that he would go rest because he is tired, and as for us we are going to continue to do the work.”
As uncertainty prevailed, the international community widely condemned the ouster of Damiba, who himself overthrew the country’s democratically elected president in January.
US Department of State spokesman Ned Price said the US “is deeply concerned by events in Burkina Faso.”
“We call on those responsible to de-escalate the situation, prevent harm to citizens and soldiers, and return to a constitutional order,” he said.
After taking power in January, Damiba promised to end militant violence that has forced 2 million people to flee their homes in Burkina Faso.
However, the group of officers led by Traore said on Friday that Damiba had failed.
The new junta leadership said it would commit “all fighting forces to refocus on the security issue and the restoration of the integrity of our territory.”
It remains to be seen whether the junta can turn around the crisis. Concerns were mounting on Saturday that the latest political volatility would further distract the military and allow the militants to fasten their grip on the once-peaceful country.
Some in Burkina Faso’s military saw Damiba as too cozy with France, which maintains a military presence in Africa’s Sahel region to help countries fight militants. Some who support the new coup leader have called on the Burkinabe government to seek Russian support instead.
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