Burkina Faso Military Leader Says Vote Still Expected by 2024

By SAM MEDNICK and ARSENE KABORE

October 3, 2022

Supporters of Capt. Ibrahim Traore parade waving a Russian flag in the streets of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022. Burkina Faso's new junta leadership is calling for calm after the French Embassy and other buildings were attacked. The unrest following the West African nation's second coup this year came after a junta statement alleged that the ousted interim president was at a French military base in Ouagadougou. France vehemently denied the claim and has urged its citizens to stay indoors amid rising anti-French sentiment in the streets. (AP Photo/Sophie Garcia)

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) — Burkina Faso’s new junta leader said Monday that the West African nation will still aim to hold an election by 2024 or even earlier, as regional mediators delayed their visit following the country’s second coup this year.

The power grab by Capt. Ibrahim Traore is the latest setback for the regional bloc known as ECOWAS, which has tried to steer three of its 15 countries back toward democracy after a spate of coups in West Africa over the last two years.

Burkina Faso’s latest coup, announced Friday on state television, has raised fears that the country’s political chaos could produce more violence from the region’s Islamic extremists.

ECOWAS had reached an agreement with ousted leader Lt. Col. Paul Henri Sandaogo Damiba to hold a new vote by July 2024. Damiba, who himself had seized power in a coup early this year, agreed to resign Sunday and left for the neighboring nation of Togo.

In an interview with Radio France Internationale that aired Monday, Traore said the goal of an election by July 2024 is still possible.

“We hope that the return to normal constitutional order will take place even before that date, if the situation allows it,” he told RFI.

A visit from an ECOWAS delegation was postponed from Monday to Tuesday, local media reported.

Burkina Faso’s last democratically elected president was overthrown by Damiba in January amid frustrations that his government had not been able to stop extremist attacks. But the jihadi violence, which has killed thousands and forced 2 million to flee their homes, continued and has now brought an end to Damiba’s tenure, too.

The new leader told journalists over the weekend that conditions remained poor for soldiers in the field. Damiba had not done enough to improve that, he said.

“I go on patrol with my men and we don’t have the basic logistics,” he told Voice of America. “In some villages, the trees don’t have leaves because people eat the leaves. They eat weeds. We’ve proposed solutions that will enable us to protect these people, but we are not listened to.”

In a video recorded after Damiba’s resignation Sunday, the ousted leader said the coup had left at least two people dead and nine wounded.

“In view of the risks of division within our army, and considering the higher interest of Burkina Faso, I have renounced my function as head of state and president of the transition,” he said.

In recent days, Traore’s followers have waved Russian flags and called for military support to help fight the jihadis, as neighboring Mali has done with Russia’s Wagner Group. However, those Russian mercenary forces have been accused of human rights abuses and some fear their involvement in Burkina Faso would only make things worse.

It remains to be seen whether Traore and his forces can turn around the crisis as international condemnation of the new coup mounts. The political chaos erupted into unrest over the weekend as protesters attacked the French Embassy in the capital of Ouagadougou and several other buildings associated with France around the country.

The violence came after a junta representative said on state television that Damiba had sought refuge at a French military base in Burkina Faso. France denied the allegation and any involvement in the coup.

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Mednick reported from Barcelona. Associated Press journalists Krista Larson in Dakar, Senegal and Jeffrey Schaeffer in Paris contributed.