OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso
Captain Ibrahim Traore was appointed as president of Burkina Faso on Wednesday, according to an official statement, after the West African country's second coup in less than nine months.
Captain Traore (C) declared Burkina Faso president |
The impoverished Sahel nation
plunged into renewed turmoil at the weekend when Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri
Sandaogo Damiba -- who had seized power in January -- was toppled by newly
emerged rival Traore, leading a faction of disgruntled junior officers.
It was the latest putsch in
the Sahel region much of which, like Burkina Faso, is battling a growing
Islamist insurgency.
Traore has been appointed as
"Head of State, Supreme Head of the Armed Forces", according to the
official statement read out on national television by spokesman for the ruling
junta Captain Kiswendsida Farouk Azaria Sorgho.
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The statement said that Traore
would now be the "guarantor of national independence, territorial
integrity... and continuity of the State."
Damiba fled to Togo following
the two-day standoff, which was defused by religious and community leaders.
Burkina is struggling with a
seven-year-old jihadist campaign that has claimed thousands of lives, forced
nearly two million people to flee their homes and left more than a third of the
country outside government control.
Swelling anger within the
armed forces prompted Damiba's coup against the elected president in January.
Appointing himself
transitional head of state, Damiba had vowed to make security the country's top
priority -- but after a brief lull the attacks revived, claiming hundreds of
lives.
Delegates from the Economic
Community of West African States (ECOWAS) wrapped up a fact-finding mission
Tuesday and held meetings with religious and traditional leaders and Traore.
Traore said the ECOWAS visit
was to "make contact with the new transition authorities" as part of
the support that Burkina Faso derived from the region.
Speculation has risen that Burkina's new leader may follow other fragile regimes in French-speaking Africa and forge close ties with Moscow at the expense of France, the region's former colonial power and traditional ally.
ALSO READ: Captain Traore: The big man in Burkina Faso
The dramatic takeover
coincided with violent anti-French protests and the sudden emergence of Russian
flags among demonstrators.
On the streets, demonstrators'
slogans included "France get out", "No to ECOWAS interference",
and "Long live Russia-Burkina cooperation".
The United States has warned
the junta of the risks of allying with Russia, saying they condemned "any
attempt to exacerbate the current situation in Burkina Faso".
"We strongly encourage
the new transitional government to adhere to the agreed-upon timeline for a
return to a democratically elected, civilian-led government," a State
Department spokesman said earlier this week.
Traore has previously said he
would stand by a pledge that Damiba gave ECOWAS for restoring civilian rule by
July 2024.
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