Captain Ibrahim Traore has been appointed President of Burkina Faso, after the removal of Paul-Henri Damiba in the West African country’s second coup in less than nine months.
Traoré, who is the same age as Thomas Sankara, has become Burkina Faso’s next strongman at the age of 34. After a military putsch in the mid-1980s, the latter took control of what was then Upper Volta.
On September 30, the Sahel country was thrown into political instability after a group of officers resolved to depose Damiba owing to his incapacity to deal with a deepening armed revolt, dissolve the transitional government, and suspend the constitution.
On September 30, the Sahel country was thrown into political instability after a group of officers resolved to depose Damiba owing to his incapacity to deal with a deepening armed revolt, dissolve the transitional government, and suspend the constitution.
According to an official announcement delivered on national television by a spokesman for the military administration, Captain Kiswendsida Farouk Azaria Sorgho, Traore has been named as “Head of State, Supreme Head of the Armed Forces.”
The statement added that Traore will now be “guarantor of national independence, territorial integrity, and continuity of the state.”
Meanwhile, officials from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) visited Traore on Tuesday and met with key religious and traditional leaders. Traore stated that the ECOWAS visit was intended to “establish contact with the new transition authorities” as part of the region’s assistance to Burkina Faso.
The coup was followed by protests against France, which had previously colonised Burkina Faso, and the appearance of Russian flags among protestors, raising concern that the new government may seek strong ties with Moscow.
