Burkina Faso Military Government Overthrown by Army Captain

By Al Mayadeen English 

Source: Agencies

Burkina Faso undergoes yet another coup, the second in eight months, amid deteriorating national security.

Burkinabe army Captain Ibrahim Traore announced Friday that he led a coup against military leader Paul-Henri Damiba and dissolved the government and suspended Burkina Faso's constitution and transitional charter.

Traore said a group of officers took the decision to topple Damiba over his inability to deal with the growing terror attacks in the country.

The borders are currently closed indefinitely and all political and civil society activities have been suspended, Traore added.

This is the country's second military coup in eight months, with Damiba only assuming power in January after ousting former President Rock Kabore via a coup of his own in light of growing frustration over the state of the country's security.

Witness statements confirm hearing shots on Friday around Burkina Faso's presidential palace and the headquarters of its military junta currently in power, as troops blocked Ouagadougou's streets and state television broadcasting was cut, AFP reported earlier in the day.

The attacks have been affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group even after Damiba earlier this month dismissed his defense minister and assumed the position himself. Only one new minister has been introduced into the transitional government, Colonel-Major Silas Keita, who is assigned to be responsible for national defense and was promoted to brigadier general. 

On September 28, a convoy carrying supplies was attacked in the town of Djibo, leaving 11 soldiers killed and around 50 civilians missing. More than 40% of the African nation, previously a French colony, is not under government control as most of the Sahel, including Niger and Mali, is suffering from the outcomes of the insurgency, which is beginning to spill over into the Ivory Coast and Togo.

Mali witnessed a large presence of French forces for nearly a decade, but French President Emmanuel Macron decided to withdraw his troops and the Malian military took over. The last French troops from Barkhane departed last month.