Not happy. Several dozen people demonstrated Tuesday in Ouagadougou against the visit of a West African delegation to assess the situation in Burkina Faso, a few days after a second coup in eight months.
Waving Russian flags and shouting slogans to the glory of Moscow, the demonstrators showed their opposition to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and France, noted an AFP journalist.
“No to the interference of ECOWAS”, “France gets out”, “Together let’s say no to France”, or even “Long live Russia-Burkina cooperation”, could we hear from the demonstrators.
Elections still scheduled for 2024
ECOWAS is regularly accused by its opponents of defending the leaders in place without taking into account popular aspirations, and some of its leaders of being subservient to the former French colonial power.
The ECOWAS delegation comes to assess the situation after the departure of Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damibae, whom Captain Ibrahim Traoré criticized in particular “the continuous deterioration of the security situation” in a country undermined by jihadist violence.
Since 2015, regular attacks by armed movements affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group have killed thousands and displaced some two million people.
Captain Traoré has promised to respect the commitments made by his predecessor to ECOWAS on the organization of elections and a return of civilians to power no later than July 2024.