By Oyintari Ben
According to community and religious leaders, the military leader of Burkina Faso, who was overthrown in a coup on Friday, has formally announced his resignation.
They said that Lt Col Paul-Henri Damiba’s resignation and the terms he set were accepted by Capt Ibrahim Traoré, the nation’s new self-declared leader.
After reports that Lt Col Damiba was seeking refuge in a French military base, attacks on French institutions occurred shortly after the announcement.
He may be in Togo, according to unreliable reports.
France and Russia are competing with one another for influence in several former French territories in West and Central Africa.
On Sunday, followers of the new junta leader Capt Traoré yelled pro-Russian slogans and waved Russian flags.
He views the leader he overthrew as a friend of former colonial power France and has expressed his willingness to collaborate with new allies to combat Islamist terrorists, which some say could entail enlisting Russian mercenaries.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner mercenary group in Russia, has welcomed the takeover.
Experts estimate that only 60% of Burkina Faso is under government control, and Islamist violence is getting worse.
Capt. Traoré declared on Sunday that there was an emergency in every area facing the nation. He urged cabinet members to “act faster and abandon the superfluous red tape.”
In agreement with the regional organization Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas), the African Union has recently called for the restoration of constitutional order by July 2023.
Although days of power battles ended without violence, Ecowas has since praised “the various groups in Burkina Faso for coming to a peaceful settlement of their differences.”
Lt. Col Damiba has not made any official statements.
However, according to statements made by religious and community leaders quoted by the news agency, Lt Col Damiba himself had tendered his resignation “to avoid clashes with serious human and material implications.”
According to reports, Lt. Col. Damiba had seven requirements for leaving his position, including assurances of his safety, a commitment to continue national reconciliation efforts, and continuous adherence to the promise of returning to civilian authority within two years.
According to the former colonel, President Roch Kaboré was forced from office in January after failing to address the rise in militant Islamist violence.
For a while now, many Burkinabe residents have not felt secure.
In 2015, an Islamist insurgency broke out in the nation, displacing two million people from their homes and resulting in thousands of fatalities.
Since gaining independence from France in 1960, Burkina Faso has had nine coups.
