In Burkina Faso, the army wavers

After Mali, where a military junta has been in power since the summer of 2020, will the next domino to topple in the Sahel be Burkina Faso? The inhabitants of the Burkinabe capital were suddenly awakened, in the night from Saturday to Sunday, January 23, by heavy gunfire near several barracks in Ouagadougou.

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Immediately, the rumor of a coup once morest the power of Roch Marc Christian Kaboré spread in town. It was denied in the morning by the authorities who, while recognizing “the effectiveness of shooting in certain barracks”, ensured that the situation was under control and called on the populations “to stay calm”. But, on Sunday followingnoon, demonstrators set fire to the headquarters of the ruling party, the People’s Movement for Progress (MPP).

Dismiss the upper hierarchy

During the day, the mutineers made their demands known. Denouncing the lack of means in the fight once morest jihadist groups, they demand the resignation of the main army chiefs, but also “better care for the injured” and “families of the deceased”. Since 2015, Burkina Faso has been caught in a spiral of violence, the intensity of which is increasing year by year.

As in neighboring Mali, jihadist groups primarily target the security forces, seeking to destabilize the institutions of a fragile state, among the poorest in the world. On November 14, 2021, at least 57 people, including 53 gendarmes, were massacred in an assault on a gendarmerie detachment in Inata (North). And this Saturday, January 22, at least two soldiers were killed and several injured in the explosion of a homemade device in the north of the country.

Violent clashes between police and demonstrators

This rebellious movement by part of the Burkinabe army comes the day following violent clashes in the capital during a demonstration banned by the authorities. At the call of the civil society movement “Save Burkina”, the demonstrators intended to denounce “incapacity” power to prevent jihadist attacks in the country. On November 27, a previous demonstration, also prohibited, left a dozen people injured in incidents between demonstrators and the police.

In six years, some 2,000 people have been killed in this violence in Burkina Faso, and 1.5 million people have been forced to flee their homes (out of a total of 21 million inhabitants). Caught between the repeated assaults of jihadist groups and the growing anger of the population, the Burkinabe army is wavering.

Three putsches in Mali

For the time being, this exasperation of part of the Burkinabe army is concentrated on the high military hierarchy. But what will happen if these demands were to remain a dead letter on the side of political power? The example of neighboring Mali is closely scrutinized in the region and beyond. Under the battering of armed groups (jihadists and Tuareg separatists), the local armed forces have turned once morest the political authority. In a few years, no less than three putschs have taken place, and since the summer of 2020 a junta has been in power in Bamako.

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However, despite pressure from the states of the region, it intends to take its time before returning power to civilians and opens the door to new actors, in particular the Russians. To the point that France, which is leading Operation Barkhane on the spot, is now asking questions regarding the meaning of its mission in Mali. On Saturday, a French soldier was killed and nine others injured following mortar fire at their camp in Gao (northern Mali). The sudden deterioration of the situation in neighboring Burkina Faso, where four French soldiers were injured last Tuesday by an explosive device, risks further complicating their mission.