The French Embassy in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, was targeted by protesters on Sunday (October 2) for the second time in two days. A few dozen demonstrators set fire to barriers and threw stones at the building. Tear gas grenades were fired to disperse them, according to a journalist on the spot. They support the military perpetrators of a coup on Friday. On Saturday, the latter accuse France of helping Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, whom they overthrew, to prepare for the resumption of power.
France already targeted on Saturday. Demonstrators had already gathered in front of the French Embassy at the end of the day, and a fire had broken out. Another fire had been lit in front of the French Institute in Bobo-Dioulasso, the country’s second city. The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the violence and called on the French to “stay at home until further notice”.
Paris denies the putschists’ accusations. Saturday, the latter affirmed that the former head of the junta had taken refuge on the base of Kamboinsin, where French soldiers form the army burniabé, and to prepare a “counteroffensive”. The latter denied it in a press release on Facebook, without revealing his whereabouts. The Quai d’Orsay did the same, and its spokeswoman Anne-Claire Legendre described the protesters as “manipulated by a disinformation campaign against us”.
A coup with an uncertain outcome. Soldiers led by Captain Ibrahim Traoré announced that they had taken power on Friday, overthrowing Colonel Damiba, himself at the head of the country since a previous coup in January. But in a statement on Saturday, the army said it did not support the new coup and downplayed the events, calling them “internal crisis” being the subject of “consultations”.
The specter of rivalry between France and Russia. Russian flags were waved on Friday and Saturday by some of the demonstrators calling for the departure of Colonel Damiba, criticized for his inability to put an end to jihadist attacks in the Sahel. Without citing Russia, the putschists affirmed on Saturday their will “to go to other partners” than France to fight terrorism. A speech reminiscent of that of the military junta of neighboring Mali, which called on the mercenaries of the Russian group Wagner and pushed the French army to leave.