Armed soldiers took power in Burkina Faso on Friday, in a second coup in the West African country in nine months. Army captain Ibrahim Traore has deposed military leader Paul-Henri Damiba and dissolved parliament, he said in a televised statement Friday night.
According to Traore, a group of officers who helped Damiba rise to power in January decided to remove him as leader over his inability to act against a growing insurgency by jihadist militants in the north and east of the country. Damiba ousted his predecessor Roch Kaboré partly for the same reason.
The constitution has been shortened and national borders have been closed, Traore said. He also announced a curfew. Earlier in the day, gunshots were heard in the streets of the capital, Ouagadougou, and a large explosion occurred near the presidential palace. Soldiers blocked access to government buildings. National television went off the air.
The constitution has been shortened and national borders have been closed, army captain Ibrahim Traore declared on television
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Damiba announced via Facebook in the afternoon that negotiations were underway with the military coup plotters. “The enemy that attacks us only wants division between Burkinabes,” he wrote.
Jihadist militants
Damiba wanted to restore security in Burkina Faso with his coup in January. He said the government of democratically elected President Roch Kaboré, whom he deposed, was not doing enough to fight jihadist militants, who have killed thousands of civilians in the country in recent years. But the attacks actually got worse under Damiba. For example, jihadists killed 11 more soldiers on Tuesday in an attack on a convoy of trucks carrying goods to a town in northern Burkina Faso. Fifty civilians who took part in the convoy are still missing.
Damiba’s supporters, who still supported him in January, became frustrated at the lack of progress, sources told Reuters news agency. Earlier this week there were protests against the army in several cities.
During a speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York last week, Damiba defended the January coup as “a matter of survival for our nation,” though it was “perhaps reprehensible” in the eyes of the international community.