Second military coup in Burkina Faso increases likelihood of further military takeovers amid growing insecurity
Second military coup in Burkina Faso increases likelihood of further military takeovers amid growing insecurity
Key points
- Event: On 30 September, mutinying soldiers conducted a military coup in Burkina Faso's capital Ouagadougou, ousting Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Damiba who had seized power in a military takeover against democratically elected President Roch Marc Kaboré in January 2022.
- Significance: The coup marks the second military takeover in Burkina Faso in 2022 and, according to the Global Instances of Coups dataset by Jonathan Powell and Clayton Thyne, places the country joint third for most coup activity in Africa since 1950, following Burundi and Sudan.
- Outlook: The coup underscores the ongoing instability and increasing insecurity in Burkina Faso, heightening the risk of further military coups and with a low likelihood of a swift return to civilian rule.
Event
Mutinying soldiers conducted a military coup in Burkina Faso's capital Ouagadougou during the early hours of 30 September, deposing Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Damiba as transitional president of the Patriotic Movement for Safeguarding and Restoration (Mouvement Patriotique pour la Sauvegarde et la Restauration: MPSR). The MPSR had first seized control of the country in a military takeover in January 2022 to oust the democratically elected President Roch Marc Kaboré.
Local media reports on 30 September stated that the gunfire had started at approximately 0400 GMT near Thomas Sankara International Airport Ouagadougou, while state-run Radiodiffusion Télévision du Burkina (RTB) television had gone off air at 0600 GMT for approximately three hours. No casualties were reported. Soldiers had also reportedly deployed to several unspecified strategic areas of the capital to prevent movement.
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