“The coup against Lieutenant-Colonel Damiba is proof of the divisions that exist within the army”

Hello Konz,
The last election took place at the end of November 2020. At the end of this ballot, outgoing President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré was re-elected, with more than 57% of the vote. He arrived at the head of the country at the end of 2015, following the attempted coup perpetrated by the Presidential Security Regiment (RSP) of General Gilbert Diendéré, in September of the same year.

Roch Kaboré’s rise to power coincided with the start of terrorist attacks in the country. One of the first was that of the Samorogouan gendarmerie post on October 9, 2015, perpetrated by a brand new jihadist group called Ansaroul Islam and now close to the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM, affiliated with Al- Qaeda).

From there, the country sank. Three bloody attacks were perpetrated in Ouagadougou, the capital, between January 2016 and March 2018. While in the bush, jihadist groups, sometimes affiliated with GSIM, sometimes with the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (EIGS), gained ground ground.

In the north first, with the province of Soum – bordering Mali, which ended up falling into enemy hands. Moreover, the blockade – still in progress – imposed by the terrorists for more than seven months on the populations of Djibo, the capital of the province, reminds us that the situation continues to worsen. It is estimated today that more than 40% of the territory escapes the control of the State.