Burkina Faso, Africa’s latest coup victim
Burkina Faso’s President Roch Kabore was detained and his government dissolved on Monday in a military coup, the latest in a string of recent takeovers, including those in Guinea, Chad, Mali and Sudan.
The coup was announced by a group of soldiers calling themselves the Patriotic Movement for Safeguarding and Restoration (MPSR), led by Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, 41, who appeared on live state television to declare that they were in control of the country, putting an end to a period of confusion.
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Government authorities
As of late Sunday night, government authorities claimed they were still in power following an army mutiny and reports of gunfire at several military bases in the country.
The latest coup brings to five, the number of military takeovers on the African Continent in recent times and a very interesting phenomenom is that all five countries are from francophone Africa where there are serious terrorists problems.
In Burkina Faso, an impoverished country of some 20 million people, attacks carried out by armed groups linked to ISIL (ISIS) and al-Qaeda have displaced more than one million people and more than 2,000 civilians have been killed over the past year alone.
Security situation
Anger at the security situation has spilled over since November, when al-Qaeda-affiliated gunmen killed 49 military police officers and four civilians, in the worst attack on the military in recent years. The public was enraged by news that the troops had gone two weeks without food rations.
The army’s removal and detention of Burkina Faso President Roch Kabore after two days of unrest have sparked some celebration among anti-government protesters, and international concern after what was the fifth military coup in West and Central Africa in the past year.
Support of coup
That the move has been largely welcomed on the streets speaks to how exasperated the Burkinabe people have become with Kabore’s leadership as the country has endured years of deteriorating security amid a regional Islamist insurgency.
Public anger last spiked in November 2021 after Islamist militants killed 49 members of the country’s security forces and news emerged that those troops had gone two weeks without food rations. Apparent public support for the military’s move should dampen hopes of a swift democratic transition.
Policies of Kabore
Ironically, the policies of Kabore, reelected to a second term in 2020 with a pledge to fight back against the insurgency, may have helped embolden coup leaders; the country’s military expenditures have more than doubled under Kabore from roughly $150 million when he first took office in 2015 to $382 million in 2020 according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
The country has also been an active recipient of U.S. military equipment and training, with a total of $100 million in security aid committed in 2018 and 2019.
The whereabouts of Kabore remains unknown. A military spokesperson said the army had seized power “without any physical violence against those arrested, who are being held in a safe place, with respect for their dignity”.
Massive support
Following the successful takeover, over 1,000 people gathered in Ouagadougou’s national square to celebrate, ahead of a rally aimed at showcasing support for the junta with a group burning a French flag, a sign of growing frustration about the military role the former colonial power still plays in the region. Many have lost faith in Kabore’s ability to protect the country from the militants.
“ECOWAS doesn’t care about us, and the international community only wants to condemn,” said demonstrator Armel Ouedraogo, referring to West Africa’s regional political bloc. “This is what we want”.
Leader of the Burkina Faso coup
Paul-Henri Damiba, the 41-year-old officer had been promoted in December by Kabore to Commander of Burkina Faso’s third military region in what some analysts viewed as an effort by the beleaguered president to shore up support within the army.
In his new post, Damiba proceeded to reorganise the military ranks, appointing new officers to key roles with the declared intent of battling the uprising.
As a contrast to Kabore, who was faulted by the army for the rising rebel violence, Damiba has sought to present himself as an expert in countering terrorism.
He studied at a military academy in Paris, obtaining a Master’s degree in Criminal Sciences from the Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers.
In June, he published a book titled West African Armies and Terrorism: Uncertain Responses? in which he analysed anti-terrorism strategies in the Sahel region and their limits.
Long history of coups d'état
Since its independence in 1960, Burkina Faso has had a long history of coups d'état. Coups witnessed by the country started in 1966, and subsequently 1980, 1982, 1983, 1987, 2014 and 2022.
The 1987 coup led by Captain Blaise Compaoré led to the killing of Captain Thomas Sankara along with 12 of his collaborators.The trial of the assassination of Thomas Sankara, which is still the subject of a cult, opened in October 2021 in Ouagadougou.
African Union, ECOWAS
The African Union and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have already condemned the coup, although it remains to be seen whether the country will go the way of Mali, another military-ruled country recently sanctioned by ECOWAS and the European Union over its leader’s decision to postpone elections.
According to analysts, the response outside the country is likely to remain regional for now; as the politics of the United Nations Security Council make any wider action to reverse coups difficult.
The military coup in Burkina Faso intensifies months of deteriorating relations between former President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré and his army, in a country where the population and the military were fed up with the hopelessness of the state in the face of deadly jihadist attacks.
