While coup leaders sacked power on Friday, protesters on Saturday targeted the French embassy, believing it was helping to prepare a counteroffensive.
Despite being ousted from office in a coup in Ouagadougou on Friday, the head of the Burkinabe junta, Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, is not stepping down. At least that’s what he said on Saturday in a message posted on Facebook: On the contrary, he was calling on the putschists to “come to their senses” after two days of tension in the capital.
Enough to fuel the notion, very common among coup plotters, that the sacked general is already preparing for his return. According to them, he had an important ally: France. On Saturday, demonstrators therefore attacked the French embassy in Ouagadougou and set fire to it as well as in front of the French institute in Bobo-Dioulasso, as reported by AFP.
They accuse General Damiba, who has not appeared publicly since the coup, of taking refuge in a French base, which he and Paris deny.
The Quai d’Orsay denounces “a disinformation campaign”.
The reaction from the Quai d’Orsay was not long in coming, Paris “condemns with the utmost determination the violence against our embassy” and calls on French nationals to get to safety.
These attacks “are the work of hostile protesters who have been manipulated by a disinformation campaign against us,” explained State Department spokeswoman Anne-Claire Legendre, while “urging stakeholders to ensure the security” of the buildings diplomatically.
On Saturday, the international community also condemned this coup, the second in eight months in Burkina Faso. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned “any attempt to seize power by force of arms”. For its part, the African Union denounced an “unconstitutional change of government” and the European Union saw the coup as jeopardizing “the efforts made for several months” for the transition.
Important disagreements within the army
The junta’s new self-proclaimed leader, Captain Traoré, has been corps commander of the Kaya Artillery Regiment in the north of the country, which has been undermined by jihadist attacks.
According to several security circles, this coup reveals deep differences of opinion within the army. The elite “Cobras” unit deployed in the fight against jihad has particularly accused General Damiba of not having mobilized all forces on the ground.
Elisa Fernandez, with AFP