Burkina Faso Coup: New Leader Damiba Gives First Speech

The new military leader of Burkina Faso Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Damiba has promised a return to the normal constitutional order “when the conditions are right”.

Damiba who led a mutiny that ousted President Roch Kaboré on Monday, blamed the president for failing to contain violence by Islamist militants.

He made his first national speech since taking power on the eve of an emergency summit of West African leaders, called in response to the coup.

On Friday, the regional bloc, Ecowas, suspended Burkina Faso because of the military takeover.

The 15-member bloc also called for the immediate release from house arrest of the ousted president and other detained officials, while agreeing to send a delegation to meet the coup leaders in the capital, Ouagadougou.

At the start of the virtual summit, Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo said: “The resurgence of coup d’etats in our region is in direct violation of our democratic tenets. It represents a threat to peace, security and stability in West-Africa.”

Burkina Faso is the third West African country to witness a military takeover in the past year. Guinea and Mali have both had sanctions imposed on them by Ecowas to press them to return to constitutional order.

Wearing a red beret and army fatigues in his national address on Thursday evening, Lt-Col Damiba, said: “When the conditions are right, according to the deadline that our people will define in all sovereignty, I commit to a return to a normal constitutional order.”

He said he will meet representatives of various sections of society to agree on a roadmap for reform, adding that Burkina Faso needed international partners “more than ever”, following condemnation of the coup.