Status: 02.10.2022 21:46
The ruler in Burkina Faso, Damiba, who was overthrown in a coup, has offered his resignation. He wanted to avoid clashes in the country and had been promised impunity by the putschists.
The ousted ruler in Burkina Faso, Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, has announced his resignation. After negotiations between Damiba and the new self-proclaimed ruler, Ibrahim Traoré, “Damiba himself offered his resignation in order to avoid confrontations with serious consequences,” explained leading mediators. Neither Damiba nor Traoré were present at the press conference, Damiba’s whereabouts are unknown.
Damiba formulated conditions for his resignation, which Traoré accepted. These include security guarantees for Damiba itself, as well as fellow military personnel and impunity. In addition, obligations that Damiba had entered into with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) would have to be complied with. Among other things, he had promised elections until 2024.
Damiba had staged a coup himself
Damiba only put himself into power in January. He lost it again on Friday – the rebels cited “the continuous deterioration in the security situation” in the country as the reason for the renewed coup. On Saturday, demonstrators attacked the French embassy in the capital, Ouagadougou, believing Damiba had taken refuge there. The putschists led by Traoré also accused Damiba of planning a “counteroffensive” from a French military base. Traoré later called for calm and warned against attacks on facilities belonging to the former colonial power France.
Burkina Faso is in the Sahel zone, has around 21 million inhabitants and is very poor. The African Union, ECOWAS, the EU and the UN had condemned the renewed putsch.