The army officers who seized power in Burkina Faso say toppled military leader Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba is planning a counteroffensive from a “French base”.
Gunshots rang out Saturday in the capital Ouagadougou amid signs of lingering tensions, a day after the officers overthrew the man who seized power in a coup only nine months earlier.
“[Damiba] is believed to have taken refuge in the French base at Kamboinsin in order to plan a counteroffensive to stir up trouble in our defence and security forces,” the coup-makers said in a statement read on national television and signed by Captain Ibrahim Traore, the country’s new leader.
An hour before the televised comments, the French embassy issued a statement “firmly denying any involvement of the French army in the events”. It also denied “rumours that Burkinabe authorities have been hosted or are under the protection of French military”.
France is Burkina Faso’s former coloniser. Angry protesters attacked the French embassy in Ouagadougou late Saturday. Video on social media showed residents with lit torches outside the perimeter and other images showed part of the compound ablaze.
Credit: aljazeera.com
