Military coup, round two
On the morning of 30 September, heavy gunfire was reported in several parts of Ouagadougou. Shots rang out around the capital, and armed soldiers took up positions along the main roads leading to the presidential palace. The country’s state broadcaster was also taken off the air, prompting fears of a crisis within the military government. Later that evening, a televised statement confirmed the inevitable. Interim President Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba had been unseated, and a new military leader – Captain Ibrahim Traoré – had seized power in a military coup. Traoré and his military supporters dissolved the previous military government, suspended the constitution and transitional charter, and closed the country’s borders indefinitely. The following day, reports emerged that Damiba had fled to Togo, and Traoré had accepted his conditional resignation.
Read More