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The new strong man of the Burkina Faso Army, Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, who led the coup d’état on January 24, was declared president of the country by the highest constitutional body, according to judicial sources reported on February 10.
As Head of State and Supreme Head of the Armed Forces of Burkina Faso, Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba takes over, after the coup d’état he perpetrated on January 24.
The military man was confirmed in his new position by the Constitutional Council, now also in the hands of the Army.
Soldiers led by Damiba ousted the country’s elected president, Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, who had faced a wave of public anger for his handling of a bloody jihadist insurgency.
Burkina Faso’s new strongman is expected to take the oath before the Constitutional Court soon, although the exact date has not been disclosed, according to judicial sources told the AFP agency.
The announcement confirms the intentions of the military junta that announced on January 31 that Damiba would be appointed for a transition mandate and that he would be working in his new role together with two vice presidents. But the key issue over an election call remains unresolved.
Uncertainty about the transfer of power to a civilian government
Hours after the coup, the Army promised to restore the “constitutional order” in a “reasonable period of time.”
It is also unknown how long Damiba’s alleged transitional period in the Executive would last.
Amid pressure from other nations in the region for a return to democracy, last week the military institution revoked the suspension of the Constitution, as it had proposed, and eliminated the night curfew.
The country has been suspended from the ECOWAS West African bloc, although no economic sanctions have been issued so far. The bloc has already imposed measures against Mali, another nation that suffered a coup, after the nation’s new leaders decided to delay elections.
However, analysts point out that in Burkina Faso, sanctions must be carefully evaluated to avoid further damage to the security and stability of the region.
Frustration over the frequent killing of citizens and soldiers by extremists with ties to the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda was the military’s justification for ousting Kaboré.
The Army stressed that it has suffered dozens of human losses since the extremist violence began in 2016.
On Wednesday, February 9, the UN Security Council expressed “serious concern” about the “unconstitutional change of government” in Burkina Faso, but chose not to describe it as a military coup or even outright condemn it.
With AFP and AP