Who is Lt-Col Damiba？

Trained by the US and France in warfare, the young Lt-Col Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba turned on his political masters in Burkina Faso by seizing power in a coup.

He anointed himself president just three weeks after celebrating his 41st birthday, making him the latest man in camouflage to overthrow a government, and raising fears that what UN chief António Guterres last year called the “epidemic of coups” – in countries ranging from Sudan to Myanmar – could continue into the new year.

Sporting a red beret, Lt-Col Damiba sat impassively – as Reuters news agency put it – in a low-lit studio on Monday evening, leaving a captain to announce on state television that he had toppled President Roch Kaboré, a former banker who is now his prisoner.

Holding the grand title of “President of the Patriotic Movement for Safeguarding and Restoration”, Lt-Col Damiba forms the West African triumvirate of military rulers – along with Guinea’s charismatic Col Mamady Doumbouya, who was also born in 1981, and Mali’s bearded Col Assimi Goïta, who is the youngest of the trio, having been born in 1983.

Though they have become political pariahs in much of Africa and the West for seizing power through the barrel of the gun, the trio appear to have significant public support in their countries – all former French colonies.

“As far as we’re concerned, it’s not a coup,” school teacher Julienne Traore told AFP news agency as crowds celebrated in Burkina Faso’s capital Ouagadougou.

Lt-Col Damiba’s background is similar to that of many of Burkina Faso’s military elite – he studied in France at a military academy and a prestigious institution where he got a Master’s in criminal sciences, and served in the presidential guard of the now-exiled Blaise Compaoré, who maintained strong ties with the former colonial power when he ruled with an iron-hand from 1987 to 2014.

He seems to have good political antennae, having refused to throw his weight behind a 2015 coup that proved to be so unpopular that the military relinquished power a mere seven days later, opening the way for Mr Kaboré to be elected to office about two months later.

More recently, Lt-Col Damiba received military training from the US, as it increasingly turned its attention to West Africa to fight militant Islamists who have gained a foothold in the region.

“He believes that Africa should bear responsibility for its own problems, rather than relying on the West, or anyone else.”

The jury is out on that – some supporters of Lt-Col Damiba carried Russian flags as they celebrated the coup in Ouagadougou, calling on Russia to help in the fight against the militant Islamists.

They were taking their cue from Mali, where the junta is said to have brought in Russia’s controversial Wagner group to defeat the insurgents, to the chagrin of 15 European nations who – along with Canada – issued a statement in December saying they “deeply regret” the decision to use “already scarce public funds” to pay foreign mercenaries.

Burkina Faso coup: New leader Damiba gives first speech

The new military leader of Burkina Faso has promised a return to the normal constitutional order “when the conditions are right”.

Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Damiba led a mutiny that ousted President Roch Kaboré on Monday.

He blamed the president for failing to contain violence by Islamist militants.

He made his first national speech since taking power on the eve of an emergency summit of West African leaders, called in response to the coup.

Burkina Faso is the third West African country to witness a military takeover in the past year. Guinea and Mali have had sanctions imposed on them by regional bloc Ecowas to press them to return to constitutional order.

Wearing a red beret and army fatigues, Lt-Col Damiba, 41, said: “When the conditions are right, according to the deadline that our people will define in all sovereignty, I commit to a return to a normal constitutional order.”

He said he will meet representatives of various sections of society to agree on a roadmap for reform.

He added that Burkina Faso needed international partners “more than ever”, following condemnation of the coup.

“I call on the international community to support our country so it can exit this crisis as soon as possible.”

He did not specify which part of the international community he wanted support from – the coup comes at a time when Russia is competing with France to help West African countries tackle a growing Islamist insurgency.

France has thousands of troops in West Africa helping its former colonies Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger tackle jihadist forces.

But the French presence is proving increasingly unpopular in the region and President Emmanuel Macron has started to reduce French troop numbers. Mali has already turned to Russia to fill the vacuum, sparking a bitter row with France, and a group of Russian mercenaries has offered their services to Burkina Faso’s new leaders.

The Burkina Faso military announced that it had seized power on state television on Monday because of the deteriorating security situation.

In his speech, Lt-Col Damiba said the fight against jihadists would be his priority and promised to recapture rural areas, allowing the 1.5 million people who have fled their homes to return.

Before seizing power, he had been at the forefront of the fight against Islamist militants and wrote a book on the topic last year.

Similar troubles in neighbouring Mali led to a military coup in May 2021 – one that was broadly welcomed by the public.

By Astrid Zhang