OUAGADOUGOU, September 30 (Reuters) – More gunfire rang out near Burkina Faso’s presidential palace on Friday afternoon, shortly after its military chief sought to allay fears of a second coup in eight month.
Residents of the capital Ouagadougou woke up to the sound of gunfire at dawn on Friday. Shortly after, soldiers and military vehicles invaded the deserted streets, cutting off access to administrative buildings.
By mid-morning, the town, usually buzzing with motorbikes and cars, was quiet. Schools, businesses and banks have been closed. State television ceased broadcasting.
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But heavy gunfire erupted again near the presidential palace in the early afternoon, two Reuters reporters said.
It was unclear whether a coup was underway, but security sources say there has been frustration within the military over the lack of progress in the fight against Islamist militants.
Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, who took power in a January coup, called for calm in a statement. Some members of the armed forces caught in “mood swings” had created a “confusing situation”, he said.
His whereabouts are unknown.
“Since he [Damiba] took power, our soldiers often die and that does not sadden him,” said Marcelin Ouedraogo, who joined a protest in the city center on Friday calling for an end to France’s military involvement in Burkina Faso. and collaboration with Russia.
The latest unrest bore the mark of other power grabs that have swept across West and Central Africa since 2020, undoing years of democratic progress.
The coups were motivated in part by violence committed by Islamist groups that took control of large areas of northern Burkina Faso and parts of neighboring Mali and Niger.
Civilians applauded military juntas in the hope that they would be more successful in containing insurgents than their democratically elected predecessors.
Besides Burkina Faso, Mali, Chad and Guinea have all experienced coups since 2020.
INSECURE
Friday’s unrest is a “damning indictment of the state of democracy in the region,” said Eric Humphery-Smith, senior Africa analyst at risk intelligence firm Verisk Maplecroft.
Another coup would mark the “sixth unconstitutional seizure of power in the Sahel in the past two years”, he said.
Damiba’s takeover was widely celebrated by Burkinabés who were fed up with the inability of the government of former President Roch Kaboré to contain militants linked to Islamic State and al-Qaeda.
Burkina Faso has become the epicenter of the violence that began in neighboring Mali in 2012 and spread to the Sahel region south of the Sahara Desert.
Militants have killed thousands of people in Burkina Faso in recent years.
Damiba had pledged to restore security but the attacks escalated. The army is in disarray and frustrated, according to security sources.
Militants blocked off areas in the north, leaving communities stranded. Government convoys and airdrops deliver essential goods to trapped civilians.
This week, unknown assailants killed 11 soldiers in an attack on a convoy carrying supplies to a town in northern Burkina Faso. Fifty civilians are missing. Read more
Many unbesieged towns and villages saw their populations increase as people fled the violence in the countryside.
Demonstrations against the army took place across Burkina Faso this week demanding that the government do more to improve the security situation. Much of the country has gone ungovernable since 2018.
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Writing by Edward McAllister, Bate Felix and Sofia Christensen, editing by Angus MacSwan, William Maclean and Toby Chopra
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