Several dozen people demonstrated Tuesday, October 4 in Ouagadougou against the visit of a West African delegation to assess the situation in Burkina Faso a few days after a second coup in eight months.

Waving Russian flags and shouting slogans to the glory of Moscow, the demonstrators showed their hostility to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and France, noted an AFP journalist.

"No to the interference of ECOWAS", "France gets out", "Together let's say no to France", or even "Long live Russia-Burkina cooperation", could we hear from the demonstrators gathered on the avenue leading to the Burkinabè presidency.

Visit of ECOWAS

The ECOWAS delegation arrived on Tuesday morning and was due to go to the presidency to meet the country's new strongman, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, AFP learned from an official Burkinabè source.

"This mission is a contact with the new authorities of the transition within the framework of the accompaniment which our country benefits from" on the part of its West African neighbors, declared in a press release Captain Traoré, who overthrew Friday last Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, himself came to power during a putsch in January.

Ibrahim Traoré took the opportunity to warn anti-ECOWAS demonstrators that "anyone who undertakes acts likely to disrupt the smooth running of the ECOWAS mission will be subject to the rigor of the law".

Regretting "the circulation of messages calling for preventing the smooth running of this mission", he renewed "his call for calm" and "restraint".

Before the demonstration on Tuesday morning, small groups had set up roadblocks overnight in the center of Ouagadougou to protest against the visit of the delegation, and messages calling for obstructing its visit were posted on social networks.

During the weekend, diplomatic buildings and buildings representing the interests of France had been attacked by demonstrators favorable to Captain Traoré.

After initially opposing his dismissal, Lieutenant-Colonel Damiba ended up agreeing to resign on Sunday and leave for Lomé.

At the end of last week, demonstrators who demanded the departure of Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, accused of having been protected by Paris, had already waved Russian flags, asking for a strengthening of military cooperation with Moscow.

Russian influence continues to grow in several French-speaking African countries, particularly in Mali and the Central African Republic. 

With AFP

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