“In view of the adoption of the transition charter, a national meeting will be convened on October 14 and 15,” said the decree signed by Burkina Faso‘s new strongman, Captain Ibrahim Traore, who took power a week ago.
Traore was declared president on Wednesday after a two-day standoff with Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Damiba, who seized power in January. Togo’s government on Monday confirmed that Damiba had arrived in the country after fleeing the capital Ouagadougou.
Traore was at the head of a core of disgruntled junior officers — but there were rumours just a few days later of discussions among some other army generals on potentially replacing him.
Demonstrators gathered in the capital of Burkina Faso on Thursday to show their support for Traore amid rumours of internal divisions in the army. After an hour of protesting a soldier sought to calm the crowd, and the new government denied rumours of a split.
“Information which has been circulating since this morning on social networks about generals meeting … is unfounded” according to a statement released by the communication ministry.
Calm has generally returned to the streets of Ouagadougou since last Friday’s coup and the turbulent weekend that followed.
Traore graduated as an officer from Burkina Faso’s Georges Namonao Military School — a second-tier institution compared to the prestigious Kadiogo Military Academy of which Damiba and others in the elite are alumni.
Coups help jihadists
Some of the protesters this week were waving Russian flags — prompting speculation that Burkina’s new leader may follow other fragile regimes in French-speaking Africa in forging close ties with Moscow at the expense of relations with France.
But some analysts say the big winners of coups in the Sahel are the jihadists looking to seize power in the region.
The arid, largely poverty-stricken Sahel has been wracked by jihadist violence since 2012 and some countries have increasingly turned to Moscow to help battle the insurgencies.
Analyst Yvan Guichaoua said this latest coup would only serve the interests of jihadists.
“The big winners are not the Russians or the French, but GSIM and IS,” said Guichaou, referring to the Al Qaeda-linked Group to Support Islam and Muslims and the local branch of the Islamic State group.
“What a disaster,” said Guichaoun, an expert at the Brussels School of International Studies.
Organisers of coups in the Sahel typically promise improved security but a coup in itself can be destabilising to a country and its governance structure.
A putsch typically “destabilises the army structure and divides members of the military into supporters and opponents of the coup”, said Djallil Lounnas of Morocco’s Al Akhawayn University.
“It means instability, division and purges.”
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
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