Arthur Greene
For the second time in a year, a military leader has forcibly taken power in Burkina Faso.
Captain Ibrahim Traore urged the country’s cabinet ministers to fix its “urgent problems” shortly after his colleague Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Damiba agreed to resign.
Over the weekend, schools, banks and shops were closed as disaffected troops staged a mutiny in the capital Ouagadougou.
There has been growing dissatisfaction with Damiba, who staged his own coup d’état in January this year. When he took power, he promised that he would solve the Islamist insurgency which has gripped the north of the country.
During the past seven years, two million people have been displaced by the conflict.
However, under Damiba’s leadership Islamist attacks have been on the rise.
Things reached breaking point on Monday last week when 11 soldiers were killed and 50 civilians went missing when a convoy carrying supplies was attacked.
Following the military takeover at the weekend, Damiba agreed to step down and fled to Togo. In a widely shared recording, Damiba congratulated his successor and wished him the best of luck. BBC News could not verify if Damiba was alone when the recording was made.
The coup highlights the ongoing tussle for influence between France and Russia in Burkina Faso.
In two separate videos captured over the weekend, soldiers can be seen waving the Russian flag on top of armoured cars whilst crowds chant “Russia! Russia!” The videos could not be verified by Reuters.
However BBC News has reported that international onlookers now fear that Traore could seek assistance from Russia as he faces the Islamist insurgency.
