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Late Friday, more than a dozen members of Burkina Faso’s military took control of state television, announcing that the country’s coup leader and president, Lt. Col. Paul Henry Sandogo Damiba, had been overthrown.
The spokesman introduced Captain Ibrahim Traore as the new leader of the volatile West African country, which is battling a growing Islamist insurgency.
Dameba and his allies ousted the elected president just nine months ago with a promise to bring the country to power more secure.
However, violence has continued unabated in recent months, and dissatisfaction with his leadership has grown by the day.
“In the face of the continued deterioration of the security situation, we have repeatedly attempted to refocus the transition on security,” said a statement read aloud by the soldiers on Friday.
The soldiers pledged to the international community that they would respect their commitments and urged Burkina Faso to “do business in peace”.
Burkina Faso’s latest military power grab follows in the footsteps of neighbouring Mali, which also saw its second coup nine months after ousting its president in August 2020.
Dameba has just returned from speaking at the UN General Assembly in New York as Burkina Faso’s head of state.
However, tensions have been building for months.
Constantin Gouvy, a Burkina Faso researcher at the Clingendael think-tank, said Friday’s events “were strategic and operational decisions within the ruling MPSR junta and the wider military to deal with rising insecurity. after the escalation of tensions.”
“Members of the MPSR increasingly feel that Dameba is isolating himself and abandoning those who helped him seize power,” Goowe told The Associated Press.
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