The coup in Burkina Faso is confirmed. According to several media, President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré is detained by soldiers on Monday morning. The authors of the coup demand his resignation.
In Burkina Faso, talks between the authorities and the military ultimately broke down. After discussions that lasted just over 24 hours, President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré was finally arrested by the mutineers and would be held in barracks.
According to the latest information from the West African country, hooded soldiers took up position in front of the national television headquarters. A statement by the putschists should take place in the hours that follow.
Several media, including Reuters, confirm the arrest of the head of the National Assembly Alassane Bala Sakandé, the new Prime Minister Lassina Zerbo and the Minister of the Armed Forces Aimé Barthélémy Simporé. The latter was the only state representative to have spoken on national television on Sunday morning. In particular, he conducted talks with disgruntled soldiers. A total failure in the end, which ended Kaboré's six years in power with a coup d'etat. The fifth in Africa in recent months, and the third in the West African sub-region.
Read: Burkina Faso: towards new clashes between demonstrators and authorities?
Roch Marc Christian Kaboré: veni, vidi… perdidi
But what do the military, and the demonstrators, blame the ousted president? Kaboré is barely beginning his second term.
It is above all the security failure of the year 2021 that is obvious. Because, after a first mandate during which Kaboré seriously tackled the problem of the terrorist threat, since last April, the State seems to be abandoning the northern and eastern regions.
Burkina Faso has seen its deadliest attacks this year, including that of Solhan in June, the deadliest in history. But, also, the murder of about forty police officers from the Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDP), the group of civilian self-defense militiamen dubbed by the State.
Read: Burkina Faso: Kaboré struggles to fight terrorism
It is this tendency to offer civilians as food that is also blamed on the government of Kaboré. And faced with these failures, the president had a last chance in November, to reorganize the forces of order and put an end to this problem militarily. However, he contented himself with ousting his interior and defense ministers and the prime minister. By blaming his subordinates, the president aroused the ire of the military.
Kaboré had nevertheless pursued a more independent policy than that of Blaise Compaoré. Until last year, because the silence of Burkina Faso and the signature of its diplomats, which appears on the lists of ECOWAS sanctions imposed on the military authorities of Mali and Guinea, clearly displeased the opposition, just as to the military.
Following the example of his neighbor Mohamed Bazoum, Kaboré also attacked the Burkinabé soldiers, notably by imprisoning General Gilbert Diendere, sentenced in 2019, and more recently, Lieutenant-Colonel Emmanuel Zoungrana.
The authorities in Burkina Faso have reported the capture of eight soldiers who are blamed for plotting a coup.
Among those captured is Colonel Mohamed Emmanuel Zoungrana – a well-known former armed force commander who has apparently been reproachfulhttps://t.co/1tyvCwrKFP pic.twitter.com/jukqydfWuY
— BNN Africa (@africabnn) January 12, 2022
Who is leading the coup?
If the two military officials were at the center of the anger of the army officers, neither of them will have launched hostilities. The origin of Kaboré's arrest is, according to the Burkinabe media, Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba.
This officer, like Zoungrana, commands a commando regiment in charge of the fight against terrorism. Damiba would also be the author of the claims of the mutinous soldiers, this Sunday. As a reminder, the military had met with the Minister of the Armed Forces to negotiate "more resources and better training" for soldiers deployed in sensitive regions of the country.
Another point of resemblance between Zoungrana and Damiba, the two were openly opposed to Kaboré's security policy. They are the authors of books on insecurity in Burkina Faso. Damiba is also believed to have a relationship with the ringleaders of the 2015 coup attempt.
A military official, contacted by AFP, said: “We have to be patient, there will be a statement in the next few hours”. Whoever reads the statement will therefore likely be the next leader of Burkina Faso.