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Burkina Faso coup: Driven by a fear of extremists' insurgency

The coup followed frustration with the government's inability to provide the army with resources to tackle extremist attacks in the north of the country.

The most recent coup in Burkina Faso was driven by the public's fear of the insurgency in the north of the country, and the military's frustration with the government's inability to provide them with the resources to tackle it. The militants driving the insurgency are linked to both al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group. President KaborΓ© was overthrown on 24 January 2022 and followed months of anti-government protests demanding the president's resignation.

Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ reporter Lalla Sy was in Burkina Faso’s capital Ouagadougou in the days following the coup. She says that initially the population supported the coup, as they too felt anger at the government's inability to combat the insurgency. The country's new military leader, Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Damiba, has pledged to restore security and peace to the country. He had been at the forefront of the country's fight against Islamist militants, but there is no indication of how he will achieve peace, or how long he will be in power.

(Photo: Military Leader of Burkina Faso, Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Damiba, Credit: Reuters)

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4 minutes