After the dismissal of the leader of the junta in Burkina Faso, Lieutenant-Colonel Paul Henri Sandaogo Damiba, the approximately 4,000 French people on the spot are worried about what will happen next, many no longer dare to leave their homes. Testimonials.
Article written by
Published
Update
Reading time : 1 min.
She’s been hiding at home for three days now. Like nearly 4,000 French people, Alexandra, based in Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso, saw from the inside the dismissal of Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba who resigned on Sunday October 2 following the coup d’etat orchestrated on Friday in this country of ‘West Africa.
“As a precaution, we stay at home. Saturday it seemed to calm down, I was about to go out, when it started to get tense again in town with soldiers, then afterwards, the symbols of France were attackeds”, describes the expatriate, who has lived in the capital for five years.
The new strongman, Captain Ibrahim Traoré called on Sunday to stop the acts “violence and vandalism“against France, in a press release read on national television. Demonstrations had broken out, in particular in front of the tricolor embassywhich sufferedmajor damage“, lamented the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“We say to ourselves: Is this going to degenerate?”
Alexandra, French living in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso)France Info
Sylvain Richard, French humanitarian for several years in Burkina Faso says to himself “confident” on the following events. Married to a Burkinabe, he heard from his in-laws: “Everyone is confined to their homes, the scuffles are rather around strategic points. We are on this military transition which is in progress, there are negotiations within the army to find an exit solution, and we know the capacity of Burkinabés to negotiate, to speak, to find peaceful solutions.”
Calm returned on Monday, October 3 in the streets of Ouagadougou. Ibrahim Traoré agreed to bring Colonel Damiba, as well as his family and collaborators, to safety. The 34-year-old captain also promised to respect the commitments made by his predecessor to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on the organization of elections and a return of civilians to the country. power by July 2024.