Posted Oct 3, 2022, 6:31 PMUpdated Oct 3, 2022, 6:39 PM
Sunday’s coup in Burkina Faso – the fifth in West Africa in two years – took place against a backdrop of vindictiveness against France. This “putsch within the putsch” seemed to be mainly due to the internal settling of scores within the junta in power since last January. The head of the latter, Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, resigned on Sunday evening under pressure from Captain Ibrahim Traoré, 34, who invoked the weakness of the anti-jihadist fight.
Russian flags waved in Ouagadougou
But this outcome came after two days of tension marked by anti-French demonstrations, while the influence of Paris in Africa is increasingly challenged by that of Moscow.
Dozens of demonstrators supporting Ibrahim Traoré threw stones on Sunday against the French embassy in Ouagadougou, on the roof of which French soldiers were positioned. Tear gas was fired from inside the embassy to disperse the protesters. Two French cultural institutions had already been targeted by protesters on Saturday.
Claims on social media of protection granted by France to Lt. Col. Damiba have contributed to anger among pro-Traore protesters. They have been formally denied both by Paris and by Paul-Henri Damiba himself. If Captain Traoré called for calm and respect for the institutions of France, “a partner like the others”, hundreds of demonstrators who accompanied him on television demanded the end of the French military presence in the Sahel, and cooperation with Russia, waving Russian flags.
Russia, although a relatively minor economic partner of Africa due to weak complementarity linked to its importance in raw materials, has resolutely pushed its pawns into the French zone of influence for half a dozen years. The Russian mercenary firm Wagner , known for being the armed and discreet arm of the Kremlin outside Russia, has thus established itself in the Central African Republic, where it is accused of abuses and looting. Wagner has also deployed 800 mercenaries in Mali, which the French contingent left last summer in an acrimonious climate. Wagner also deployed 300 mercenaries in Libya, for the benefit of Marshal Haftar, without much success, and sent a few “advisers” to Madagascar. Finally, it contributed to the recent signing of a cooperation agreement between Russia and Cameroon.
ECOWAS expected
“I note that Mr. Traoré, in recent hours, has made statements asking not to attack French interests,” French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said on Monday. A delegation from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which greeted the various parties on Sunday evening for “having accepted a peaceful settlement of their dispute”, was expected in Ouagadougou on Tuesday. ECOWAS generally has a more conciliatory attitude towards the Burkinabé putschists than towards their Malian counterparts, who have carried out two coups in two years. The curfew introduced on Friday was lifted and the land borders reopened.
The junta overthrew President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré earlier this year, accused of ineffectiveness in the fight against jihadist violence. But in recent months, attacks killing dozens of civilians and soldiers have multiplied in the north and east of Burkina Faso, where cities are now subject to a blockade by jihadists. Since 2015, regular attacks by armed movements affiliated with Al Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS) group have killed thousands and displaced some two million people out of a total population of 20 million.
