It is finally without clashes that the power changes hands in Burkina Faso.
Refugee in Lomé, Togo, Lieutenant-Colonel Damiba agreed to resign on Sunday, October 2, leaving his chair to the young captain Ibrahim Traoré, aged 34, who until then led the body of the artillery regiment of Kaya, in the north of the country.
Negotiations took place all day at the headquarters of the general staff to find a peaceful solution, while the black scenario was taking shape of a confrontation between the new putschists and those remaining faithful to the former president of the transition. .
To ratify his departure, the ousted putschist Paul-Henri Damiba, however, set conditions: amnesty for him, his relatives and the soldiers who had joined him, the pursuit of national reconciliation or even respect for deadlines. should allow a return to constitutional order no later than July 1, 2024.
In a press release, a spokesman for the putschists announced that “Captain Traoré is responsible for the execution of the current affairs of the State until the swearing in of the President of Faso designated by the living forces of the nation” .
Information confirmed by the interested party himself on the antenna of RFI.
The latter promised “assizes in less than a month” to “appoint a president of the transition” specifying that he had no preferences for a civilian or military president.
Divorce within the military
Priority of priorities for the new government: restore order and security in a State which has lost control of more than 40% of its territory in the face of the push by jihadist groups, despite Colonel Damiba's promises to fight against terrorism a priority.
From their coup on Friday, the putschists had also justified their action by “the continuous deterioration of the security situation”.
"A fracture has been created between Colonel Damiba and the population with a significant deterioration in security, few results in the fight against jihadism and a total absence of tangible change in the daily life of the population", analyzes Caroline Roussy, director of research at the Institute of International and Strategic Relations (Iris).
In the north of the country, towns like Djibo have been besieged for several months by armed Islamist groups causing dramatic food shortages.
A humanitarian convoy, which was meant to bring relief to the population, was attacked last week by members of the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Islam and Muslim Support Group, killing 11 Burkinabe soldiers.
"The attack on the Djibo convoy was the straw that broke the camel's back," summarizes France 24 journalist Wasim Nasr.
“We then talked a lot about the lack of means made available” to the army, recalls the specialist in jihadist movements.
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In recent months, dozens of soldiers have lost their lives in similar attacks, creating deep resentment among the troops engaged in the field.
“Friday's coup revealed “a certain divide within the army between a military hierarchy that is not at the front and has continued to gentrify and soldiers who, in the field, have had the feeling of having been abandoned”, assures the political science researcher at the University of Ouagadougou, Cheickna Yaranangoré, interviewed by the newspaper Le Monde.
The “stained” figure of Thomas Sankara
To this divorce within the army was added the distrust of a large part of public opinion after the arrival, in July, on Burkinabe soil of former President Blaise Compaoré, chased by the street in 2014 Paul-Henri Damiba wanted to consolidate “national reconciliation” to better fight against jihadist violence.
If Blaise Compaoré's supporters welcomed a strong gesture towards an easing of political tensions, many saw it as a denial of justice "in the land of honest men": three months earlier, the former president in exile in Côte d'Ivoire had been sentenced to life imprisonment in absentia for the assassination of his predecessor, Thomas Sankara.
>> To read: Sankara trial: what remains of the pan-Africanism defended by the African revolutionary leader?
“Thomas Sankara remains the icon and the unsurpassable figure who has once again been sullied.
The law was not respected and at that time there was a divorce between the population and Damiba which lost all credibility.
It ended up being seen as a symptom of an endemic system of corruption,” says Caroline Roussy.
Especially since personalities from the old regime that fell in 2014 were appointed to key positions in the wake of the January coup.
For its part, the presidency had tried to appease public opinion, ensuring that the national reconciliation process was "not made to consecrate impunity", without succeeding in extinguishing the anger of the population.
What role for Russia?
In the aftermath of the coup by the new putschists, Russian flags were waved in the streets of Ouagadougou while the French embassy was targeted twice during the weekend by hostile demonstrators, fueling suspicions of destabilization campaign orchestrated by Moscow.
Rumors circulating on social media claiming that Colonel Damiba had taken refuge on the French base at Kamboinsin in Ouagadougou helped to fan the embers of anti-French sentiment.
>> See also: Anti-French sentiment, "best catalyst for street mobilizations"
Since the January coup, diplomats have worried about Russia gaining a foothold in Burkina Faso.
At the time, Alexandre Ivanov, a close associate of the Kremlin active in the Central African Republic, said he was ready to “share the experience” of the Russian “instructors” for training the army of Burkina Faso.
Has the Kremlin played on the fault lines within the Burkinabè army, between supporters of in-depth cooperation with France like Lieutenant-Colonel Damiba and those tempted by cooperation with other countries, including Russia ?
“We cannot rule out any hypothesis”, explains Caroline Roussy.
“We see that there is a desire to diversify partnerships.
In any case, all this is part of a sub-regional dynamic which is not unrelated to what is happening in Mali and elsewhere.”
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