Africa Business

The African Union on Saturday condemned the “unconstitutional change of government” in Burkina Faso, a day after the second coup this year in the deeply poor and restive West African country.

Junior officers toppled a junta leader on Friday, saying he had failed to fight jihadist attacks in the country.

“The chairperson calls upon the military to immediately and totally refrain from any acts of violence or threats to the civilian population, civil liberties, human rights,” the AU said in a statement, calling for the restoration of the constitutional order by July 2024.

AU chief Moussa Faki Mahamat said he was deeply concerned about the resurgence of unconstitutional ousters in the West African nation and elsewhere on the continent. 

In Burkina Faso’s capital, Ouagadougou, an uneasy calm reigned as soldiers in armoured vehicles and pickup trucks guarded the national television centre but traffic slowly resumed on arterial roads.

Shops slowly started reopening in the dusty and spread-out city, where pre-dawn gunfire on Friday around the presidential palace culminated in the latest coup, that drew wide condemnation. 

The Economic Community of West African States regional bloc “condemned in the strongest possible terms” the latest seizure of power, calling it “inappropriate” at a time when progress was being made for a return to constitutional order by July 1, 2024.

Burkina Faso’s former colonial ruler France told its citizens in Ouagadougou, believed to number between 4,000 and 5,000, to stay home, while the European Union expressed “concern” at the unfolding events.

The United States called “for a return to calm and restraint by all actors”.

Just before 8:00 pm (2000 GMT) on Friday, more than a dozen soldiers in fatigues appeared on the state television and radio broadcaster to announce the removal of Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba.

They proclaimed 34-year-old Captain Ibrahim Traore in charge.

“We have decided to take our responsibilities, driven by a single ideal: the restoration of security and integrity of our territory,” they said.

“Damiba failed. Since he came to power, the zones that were peaceful were attacked. He took power but then he betrayed us,” Habibata Rouamba, a trader and activist said on Saturday.

With much of the Sahel region battling a growing Islamist insurgency, the violence has prompted a series of coups in Mali, Guinea and Chad since 2020. 

In January, Damiba installed himself as leader of the country of 16 million after accusing elected president Roch Marc Christian Kabore of failing to beat back the jihadists.

– Damiba accused of failure –

But with more than 40 percent of the country outside government control, the latest putsch leaders said Damiba, too, had failed.

“Far from liberating the occupied territories, the once-peaceful areas have come under terrorist control,” the new military leaders said. 

They then suspended the constitution, sealed the borders, dissolved the transitional government and legislative assembly and instituted a 9:00 pm to 5:00 am curfew.

New strongman Traore was previously head of anti-jihadist special forces unit “Cobra” in the northern region of Kaya.

– Junta leader’s fate unclear –

Damiba’s fate remains unknown. 

In the morning, shots rang out in the Ouaga 2000 neighbourhood, which houses both the presidential and junta headquarters.

State television was cut for several hours prior to the military announcement, broadcasting just a blank screen with the message “no video signal”.

Though Damiba had promised to make security his priority when he took charge on January 24, violent attacks have increased since March.

In the north and east, towns have been blockaded by insurgents who have blown up bridges and attacked supply convoys.

As in bordering countries, insurgents affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group have stoked unrest.

Thousands have died and about two million have been displaced by the fighting since 2015 when the insurgency spread to Burkina Faso, which has since become the epicentre of the violence across the Sahel.

In September, a particularly bloody month, Damiba sacked his defence minister and assumed the role himself.

Earlier this week, suspected jihadists attacked a convoy carrying supplies to the town of Djibo in the north of the country. The government said 11 soldiers died and around 50 civilians were missing.

Burkina Faso awoke to fresh uncertainty Saturday after its second coup this year when junior officers toppled a junta leader, saying he had failed to fight jihadist attacks in the deeply poor and restive West African nation.

An uneasy calm permeated through the capital Ouagadougou where soldiers in armoured vehicles and pickup trucks guarded the national television centre but traffic slowly resumed on arterial roads.

Shops slowly started reopening in the dusty and spread-out city, where pre-dawn gunfire on Friday around the presidential palace culminated in the latest coup, that drew wide condemnation. 

The Economic Community of West African States regional bloc “condemned in the strongest possible terms” the latest seizure of power, calling it “inappropriate” at a time when progress was being made for a return to constitutional order by July 1, 2024.

Burkina Faso’s former colonial ruler France told its citizens in Ouagadougou, believed to number between 4,000 and 5,000, to stay home, while the European Union expressed “concern” at the unfolding events.

The United States called “for a return to calm and restraint by all actors”.

Just before 8:00 pm (2000 GMT) on Friday, more than a dozen soldiers in fatigues appeared on the state television and radio broadcaster to announce the removal of Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba.

They proclaimed 34-year-old Captain Ibrahim Traore in charge.

“We have decided to take our responsibilities, driven by a single ideal: the restoration of security and integrity of our territory,” they said.

“Damiba failed. Since he came to power, the zones that were peaceful were attacked. He took power but then he betrayed us,” Habibata Rouamba, a trader and activist said on Saturday.

With much of the Sahel region battling a growing Islamist insurgency, the violence has prompted a series of coups in Mali, Guinea and Chad since 2020. 

In January, Damiba installed himself as leader of the country of 16 million after accusing elected president Roch Marc Christian Kabore of failing to beat back the jihadists.

– Damiba accused of failure –

But with more than 40 percent of the country outside government control, the latest putsch leaders said Damiba, too, had failed.

“Far from liberating the occupied territories, the once-peaceful areas have come under terrorist control,” the new military leaders said. 

They then suspended the constitution, sealed the borders, dissolved the transitional government and legislative assembly and instituted a 9:00 pm to 5:00 am curfew.

New strongman Traore was previously head of anti-jihadist special forces unit “Cobra” in the northern region of Kaya.

– Junta leader’s fate unclear –

Damiba’s fate remains unknown. 

Damiba’s Patriotic Movement for Preservation and Restoration (MPSR) had said earlier on Friday that there was an “internal crisis in the army” prompting troop deployments in key areas of the capital.

Government spokesman Lionel Bilgo had said the “crisis” concerned an army pay dispute, and that Damiba was taking part in negotiations.

In the morning, shots rang out in the Ouaga 2000 neighbourhood, which houses both the presidential and junta headquarters.

State television was cut for several hours prior to the military announcement, broadcasting just a blank screen with the message “no video signal”.

Though Damiba had promised to make security his priority when he took charge on January 24, violent attacks have increased since March.

In the north and east, towns have been blockaded by insurgents who have blown up bridges and attacked supply convoys.

As in bordering countries, insurgents affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group have stoked unrest.

Thousands have died and about two million have been displaced by the fighting since 2015 when the insurgency spread to Burkina Faso, which has since become the epicentre of the violence across the Sahel.

In September, a particularly bloody month, Damiba sacked his defence minister and assumed the role himself.

Earlier this week, suspected jihadists attacked a convoy carrying supplies to the town of Djibo in the north of the country. The government said 11 soldiers died and around 50 civilians were missing.

Military officers have seized control of Burkina Faso, claiming to be restoring peace to the jihadist-wracked country as they overthrew a junta leader who had also come to power in a coup at the start of this year.

In the capital Ouagadougou, pre-dawn gunfire around the presidential palace was heard at the start of a day that culminated in the latest ousting. 

Just before 8 pm (2000 GMT) on Friday, more than a dozen soldiers in fatigues appeared on the state television and radio broadcaster to announce the removal of Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba for failing to stem a jihadist insurgency.

They proclaimed 34-year-old Captain Ibrahim Traore in charge.

“We have decided to take our responsibilities, driven by a single ideal: the restoration of security and integrity of our territory,” they said.

With much of the Sahel region battling a growing Islamist insurgency, the violence has prompted a series of coups in Mali, Guinea and Chad since 2020. 

In January, Damiba installed himself as leader of the country of 16 million after accusing elected president Roch Marc Christian Kabore of failing to beat back the jihadists. 

But with more than 40 percent of the former French colony outside government control, the latest putsch leaders said Damiba, too, had failed.

“Far from liberating the occupied territories, the once-peaceful areas have come under terrorist control,” the new military leaders said. 

They then suspended the constitution, sealed the borders, dissolved the transitional government and legislative assembly and instituted a 9:00 pm to 5:00 am curfew.

New strongman Traore was previously head of anti-jihadist special forces unit “Cobra” in the northern region of Kaya.

Damiba’s fate remained unknown Friday. 

– Calls for ‘restraint’ –

Damiba’s Patriotic Movement for Preservation and Restoration (MPSR) had said earlier on Friday that there was an “internal crisis in the army” prompting troop deployments in key areas of the capital.

AFP journalists saw troops block several main roads and intersections in Ouagadougou, with soldiers also stationed outside the state television centre.

Government spokesman Lionel Bilgo had said the “crisis” concerned an army pay dispute, and that Damiba was taking part in negotiations.

In the morning, shots rang out in the Ouaga 2000 neighbourhood, which houses both the presidential and junta headquarters.

“I heard heavy detonations around 4:30 am and now the roads around my home have been sealed off by military vehicles,” a resident close to the presidential palace said.

State television was cut for several hours prior to the military announcement, broadcasting just a blank screen with the message “no video signal”.

In the afternoon, an AFP journalist saw a group of several hundred people gather in a city square demanding the departure of Damiba and the end of the French military presence.

By evening, soldiers were still in place at key points of the city, and streets were mostly deserted.

In a statement, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) “condemned in the strongest possible terms” the latest seizure of power, calling it “inappropriate” at a time when progress was being made for a return to constitutional order by July 1, 2024.

The French foreign ministry told its citizens in the Burkina capital, believed to number between 4,000 and 5,000, to stay home, while the European Union expressed “concern” at the unfolding events.

The United States said it was “deeply concerned” by the situation in Ouagadougou.

“We call for a return to calm and restraint by all actors,” a State Department spokesperson said.

– Rein in jihadists –

Though Damiba had promised to make security his priority when he took charge on January 24, violent attacks have increased since March.

In the north and east, towns have been blockaded by insurgents who have blown up bridges and attacked supply convoys.

As in bordering countries, insurgents affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group have stoked unrest.

Thousands have died and about two million have been displaced by the fighting since 2015 when the insurgency spread to Burkina Faso, which has since become the epicentre of the violence across the Sahel.

In September, a particularly bloody month, Damiba sacked his defence minister and assumed the role himself.

Earlier this week, suspected jihadists attacked a convoy carrying supplies to the town of Djibo in the north of the country. The government said 11 soldiers died and around 50 civilians were missing.

On September 5, an improvised explosive device struck a supply convoy in the north killing 35 civilians and wounding 37.

The following day, at least nine people — seven civilians and two soldiers — were killed in two separate attacks by suspected jihadists.

Much of the impoverished Sahel region is battling the insurgency.

Starting in northern Mali in 2012, the insurgents attacked neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger in 2015.

The violence has in recent years begun to spill over into coastal states Ivory Coast, Togo and Benin.

Military officers seized control of Burkina Faso on Friday, claiming to be restoring peace to the jihadist-wracked country as they dismissed a junta leader who had himself come to power in a coup at the start of this year.

In the capital Ouagadougou, witnesses heard pre-dawn gunfire around the presidential palace and junta headquarters.

Then just before 8 pm (2000 GMT), more than a dozen soldiers in fatigues appeared on the state television and radio broadcaster to announce the removal of Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba for failing to stem a jihadist insurgency.

In his place, they proclaimed 34-year-old Captain Ibrahim Traore in charge.

“We have decided to take our responsibilities, driven by a single ideal: the restoration of security and integrity of our territory,” they said.

“Our common ideal was betrayed by our leader in whom we had placed all our trust. Far from liberating the occupied territories, the once peaceful areas have come under terrorist control.”

The rebelling military also announced the closure of air and land borders from midnight, as well as the suspension of the constitution and the dissolution of the government and transitional legislative assembly.

A curfew from 9:00 pm to 5:00 am was also put in place.

New strongman Traore was previously head of anti-jihadist special forces unit “Cobra” in the northern region of Kaya.

Ousted leader Damiba’s fate remained unknown. 

The coup plotters promised to convene “the nation’s active forces” to designate a “new president of Faso, whether civilian or military”.

– Calls for ‘restraint’ –

The United States said it was “deeply concerned” by the situation in Ouagadougou and encouraged its citizens to limit movements.

“We call for a return to calm and restraint by all actors,” a State Department spokesperson said.

Earlier on Friday, Damiba’s Patriotic Movement for Preservation and Restoration (MPSR) had said there was an “internal crisis in the army” prompting troop deployments in key areas of the capital.

AFP journalists saw troops block several main roads and intersections in Ouagadougou, with soldiers also stationed outside the state television centre.

Government spokesman Lionel Bilgo had said the “crisis” concerned an army pay dispute, and that Damiba was taking part in negotiations.

During the morning, shots rang out in the Ouaga 2000 neighbourhood, which houses both the presidential and military junta headquarters.

“I heard heavy detonations around 4:30 am and now the roads around my home have been sealed off by military vehicles,” a resident close to the presidential palace said.

State television was cut for several hours prior to the military announcement, broadcasting just a blank screen with the message “no video signal”.

In the afternoon, an AFP journalist saw a group of several hundred people gather in a city square making a range of demands, including the departure of Damiba and the end of the French military presence.

By the evening the soldiers were still in place at key points of the city, and streets were mostly deserted.

In a statement, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) “condemned in the strongest possible terms the seizure of power by force that has just taken place.”

ECOWAS called the latest coup “inappropriate” at a time when it said progress was being made for a return to constitutional order by July 1, 2024.

The French foreign ministry told its citizens in the city, believed to number between 4,000 and 5,000, to stay home.

In Brussels, the European Union expressed “concern” at the events unfolding in the Burkina capital.

– Rein in jihadists –

When he declared himself in charge on January 24, ousting elected leader Roch Marc Christian Kabore, Damiba had promised to make security his priority and end the bloody jihadist attacks.

But these have increased in recent months, especially in the north and east where whole towns have been blockaded by insurgents who have blown up bridged and attacked supply convoys.

As in bordering countries, insurgents affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group have stoked unrest.

Thousands have died and about two million have been displaced by the fighting since 2015 when the insurgency spread into Burkina Faso, which has since become the epicentre of the violence across the Sahel.

More than 40 percent of Burkina Faso, a former French colony, is outside government control.

Attacks have increased since mid-March, despite the junta’s vow to make security its top priority.

In September, a particularly bloody month, Damiba sacked his defence minister and assumed the role himself.

– Bloody September –

Earlier this week, suspected jihadists attacked a convoy carrying supplies to the town of Djibo in the north of the country. The government said 11 soldiers died and around 50 civilians were missing.

On September 5, an improvised explosive device struck a supply convoy in the north killing 35 civilians and wounding 37.

The following day, at least nine people — seven civilians and two soldiers — were killed in two separate attacks by suspected jihadists.

Much of the impoverished Sahel region is battling the insurgency.

Starting in northern Mali in 2012, the insurgents attacked neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger in 2015.

The violence has in recent years begun to spill over into coastal states Ivory Coast, Togo and Benin.

Burkina Faso strongman Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba came to power in a military coup eight months ago.

On Friday military officials said they had removed him as head of the junta in the second coup this year.

Damiba had first-hand experience with the brutal jihadist insurgency that he cited as the pretext for seizing power in January.

But it wasn’t enough to placate the rebelling military, who tore into his record on security as they announced his dismissal in a national television address.

When Damiba’s junta overthrew the country’s elected president, Roch Marc Christian Kabore, the latter too was facing anger over his failure to stem the crisis.

Since the first jihadist attacks in 2015, thousands of people have died and about two million have been displaced by the fighting.

During his eight months at the head of the junta, Damiba tried to launch a process of dialogue with some armed groups, while intensifying the “offensive actions of the army”.

In early September, Damiba welcomed a “relative calm” in several places.

But the attacks have remained numerous, with more than 40 percent of the country outside government control.

Before taking power, Damiba had made no secret of his criticism of prevailing strategies to roll back the insurgency, publishing a book last June called “West African Armies and Terrorism: Uncertain Answers?”

He was part of a group of uniformed men who mounted a coup on January 24, declaring they had taken power, although he did not say anything, leaving the job of announcer to a captain, Sidsore Kader Ouedraogo.

Ouedraogo read out a statement signed by Damiba as president of Patriotic Movement for Preservation and Restoration (MPSR), as the junta called itself.

The statement lashed “the continuous deterioration of the security situation, which threatens the very foundation of our nation” and singled out Kabore’s “clear inability to unite the Burkinabe people to tackle the situation effectively”.

Like many military officers in the French-speaking Sahel, Damiba had close affiliations with France, and trained at the prestigious Military School of Paris.

He also trained at the Georges Namoano Military Academy in Po in southern Burkina.

Many of its alumni served in the Presidential Security Regiment (RSP), the former presidential guard of Kabore’s predecessor, Blaise Compaore, who was overthrown by a popular uprising in 2014.

Damiba commanded the RSP from 2003-2011, although he was also among those who opposed a coup bid in 2015 by Compaore’s right-hand man, General Gilbert Diendere.

As a regimental commander from 2019 to 2021, he gained first-hand experience of the problems of Burkina Faso’s poorly-trained and ill-equipped security forces against ruthless and highly mobile jihadists.

Kabore shook up the military and Damiba was sent to command the 3rd military Region.

A Moroccan appeals court has beefed up prison terms against 15 African migrants involved in a June border tragedy in which two dozen migrants died, a rights group said Friday.

The migrants, from Sudan and Chad, had been arrested after some 2,000 people, stormed the frontier with the Spanish enclave of Melilla on June 24 in a bid to reach European Union territory.

Rights groups have accused border guards on both sides of responding with excessive force, leaving at least 23 migrants dead — the worst toll in years of such attempted crossings.

The 15 migrants had been found guilty of illegally entering Morocco, violence against the police, armed assembly and resisting arrest.

On Thursday, an appeals court in the border town of Nador “decided to increase the initial sentences of 11 months in prison to three years” against 15 migrants arrested after the tragedy, said Omar Naji of the AMDH rights group.

“It’s a very severe ruling — we had expected the sentences to be reduced,” Naji told AFP.

He added that all the migrants had denied using violence.

The Spanish enclaves of Melilla and Ceuta have long been a magnet for people fleeing violence and poverty across Africa and seeking refuge via the continent’s only land borders with the EU.

Since the June 24 incident, dozens of mostly Sudanese migrants have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from eight months to two years in prison without parole.

The Burkina Faso government admitted an “internal crisis” within the army was behind troop deployments Friday in key areas of the capital, saying negotiations were now underway after shots rang out before dawn.

Gunfire was heard around the presidential palace and headquarters of the military junta, which itself seized power in a coup last January, witnesses told AFP.

The transitional government said the developing situation was linked to an “internal crisis in the army”, after AFP journalists saw troops block several main roads in the capital Ouagadougou.

Government spokesman Lionel Bilgo told AFP “talks are continuing to try to reach a settlement without trouble”.

“I heard heavy detonations around 4:30 am (0430 GMT) and now the roads around my home have been sealed off by military vehicles,” said a resident who lives close to the presidential palace.

During the morning more shots had rung out an AFP video journalist said in the Ouaga 2000 neighbourhood that houses both the presidential and military junta headquarters.

Bilgo said the “crisis” was based on army pay claims, and that junta leader Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba was taking part in discussions with the men.

A government source had earlier confirmed that Damiba was “in a safe place” without giving more details.

The state television was cut for several hours, broadcasting a blank screen for several hours saying: “no video signal”.

A second government source said, “The negotiations are continuing… the soldiers are maintaining pressure through their presence at strategic points they occupied this morning” in the capital.

Soldiers were seen at the city’s main crossroads, especially in Ouaga 2000 but also outside the state television centre, an AFP journalist said. 

In Brussels, the EU voiced “concern” at events in the Burkina capital.

“A military movement was observed from 04:30 this morning. The situation still remains particularly confused,” said spokeswoman Nabila Massrali.

– Rein in jihadists –

Violence has long wracked the landlocked west African country where Damiba took power in a January coup, ousting elected leader Roch Marc Christian Kabore.

Damiba has pledged to restore civilian rule within two years and to defeat the armed factions.

As in bordering countries, insurgents affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group have stoked the unrest.

Thousands have died and about two million have been displaced by the fighting since 2015 when the insurgency spread into Burkina Faso, which has since become the epicentre of the violence across the Sahel.

Damiba earlier this month sacked his defence minister and assumed the role himself.

The mini-shuffle, the first since the appointment of a transitional government in March, saw only one new minister introduced — Colonel-Major Silas Keita was named minister delegate in charge of national defence and promoted to brigadier general. 

More than 40 percent of Burkina Faso, a former French colony, is outside government control.

Attacks have increased since mid-March, despite the junta’s vow to make security its top priority.

– Bloody September –

September has been particularly bloody.

On Monday, suspected jihadists attacked a convoy carrying supplies to the town of Djibo in the north of the country. The government said 11 soldiers died and around 50 civilians were missing.

On September 5 an improvised explosive device struck a supply convoy in the north killing 35 civilians dead and wounding 37.

The following day, at least nine people, seven civilians and two soldiers, were killed in two separate attacks by suspected jihadists.

In June, 86 civilians died in a massacre at Seytenga, near the border with Niger.

Much of the impoverished Sahel region is battling the insurgency.

Starting in northern Mali in 2012, the insurgents attacked neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger in 2015.

The violence has in recent years begun to spill over into coastal states Ivory Coast, Togo and Benin.

“The deteriorating security situation in Burkina Faso and Mali has made the north of the coastal countries the new front line against armed groups operating in the Sahel,” the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, a German think tank, said in a report in April.

Shots rang out before dawn on Friday around Burkina Faso’s presidential palace and headquarters of the military junta, which itself seized power in a coup last January, witnesses told AFP.

Troops blocked several main roads in the capital Ouagadougou, AFP journalists said, and state television was cut, broadcasting a blank screen for several hours saying: “no video signal”.

“I heard heavy detonations around 4:30 am (0430 GMT) and now the roads around my home have been sealed off by military vehicles,” said a resident who lives close to the presidential palace.

The reason for the gunfire was not immediately clear.

But during the morning more shots were heard by an AFP cameraman in the Ouaga 2000 neighbourhood that houses both the presidential and military junta headquarters.

Junta leader Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba “is in a safe place”, a government source told AFP, adding, “contacts are underway to find out exactly what the men want”.

A second government source said, “The negotiations are continuing… the soldiers are maintaining pressure through their presence at strategic points they occupied this morning” in the capital.

Soldiers were seen at  the city’s main crossroads, especially in Ouaga 2000 but also outside the state television centre, an AFP journalist said. The video signal was restored about 0915 GMT.

In Brussels, the EU voiced “concern” at events in the Burkina capital.

“A military movement was observed from 04:30 this morning. The situation still remains particularly confused,” said spokeswoman Nabila Massrali.

– Rein in jihadists –

Violence has long wracked the landlocked west African country where Damiba took power in a January coup, ousting elected leader Roch Marc Christian Kabore.

Damiba has pledged to restore civilian rule within two years and to defeat the armed factions.

As in bordering countries, insurgents affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group have stoked the unrest.

Damiba earlier this month sacked his defence minister and assumed the role himself.

The mini-shuffle, the first since the appointment of a transitional government in March, saw only one new minister introduced — Colonel-Major Silas Keita was named minister delegate in charge of national defence and promoted to brigadier general. 

Thousands have died and about two million have been displaced by the fighting since 2015 when the insurgency spread into Burkina Faso, which has since become the epicentre of the violence across the Sahel.

Attacks have increased since the start of the year, despite the junta’s vow to make security its top priority.

– Bloody September –

September has been particularly bloody.

On Monday, suspected jihadists attacked a convoy carrying supplies to the town of Djibo in the north of the country. The government said 11 soldiers were killed and around 50 civilians were missing.

On September 5 an improvised explosive device struck a supply convoy in the north killing 35 civilians dead and wounding 37.

In June, 86 civilians died in a massacre at Seytenga, near the border with Niger.

More than 40 percent of Burkina Faso, a former French colony, is outside government control.

Much of the impoverished Sahel region is battling the insurgency.

Starting in northern Mali in 2012, the insurgents attacked neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger in 2015. The violence has in recent years begun to spill over into coastal states Ivory Coast, Togo and Benin.

“The deteriorating security situation in Burkina Faso and Mali has made the north of the coastal countries the new front line against armed groups operating in the Sahel,” the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, a German think tank, said in a report in April.

French forces supported Mali against insurgents for nearly a decade, but President Emmanuel Macron decided to pull out after falling out with the Malian junta  in the wake of two military coups since 2020.

The last French troops from operation Barkhane left last month. Despite the exit from Mali, Macron insists Paris remains committed to the “fight against terrorism” in West Africa. 

A regional court on Friday ruled that Tanzania’s decision to cordon off land for wildlife protection was legal, dealing a blow to Maasai pastoralists who had protested the move, two lawyers for the community said.

The nomadic community in Loliondo in the northern district of Ngorongoro has accused the government of trying to force them off their ancestral land in order to organise safaris and hunting expeditions.

But the government has rejected the accusations, claiming it wants to “protect” 1,500 square kilometres (580 square miles) of the area from human activity.

After several postponements, the Arusha-based East African Court of Justice upheld the government’s decision, a lawyer for the Maasai told AFP.

“Unfortunately, the court ruled against us,” Esther Mnaro said.

“They have delivered a very impugned judgement,” another lawyer, Yonas Masiaya, told AFP.

The Maasai had asked the court to “stop the evictions, the arrest, detention or persecution” of their members and demanded a billion Tanzanian shillings ($430,000) as damages.

The three-judge bench said no compensation was due, Mnaro said.

They “decided that there… was no loss of property and none of these people were injured during the evictions, but our evidence and our witnesses had said totally different things.”

Mnaro said the community would decide whether to appeal.

There was no immediate reaction to the ruling from the government, which had previously argued that the Arusha court did not have jurisdiction to hear the matter.

Tensions have soared in recent months with violent clashes breaking out in June in Loliondo between police and Maasai demonstrators.

More than two dozen Maasai protesters were charged with murder over the death of a policeman in the clashes.

– Population growth –

Tanzania has historically allowed indigenous communities such as the Maasai to live within some national parks, including the Ngorongoro conservation area, a UNESCO World Heritage site. 

But the authorities say their growing population is encroaching on wildlife habitat and began moving the pastoralists out of Ngorongoro in June, calling it a voluntary relocation.

The relocation has sparked concern, with a team of UN-appointed independent rights experts warning in June that “it could jeopardise the Maasai’s physical and cultural survival.”

Since 1959, the number of humans living in Ngorongoro has shot up from 8,000 to more than 100,000.

The livestock population has grown even more quickly, from around 260,000 in 2017 to over one million today.

As climate change leads to prolonged droughts and low crop yields, pressure on the pastoralists has increased, forcing them into conflict with wildlife over access to food and water.

In 2009, thousands of Maasai families were moved out of Loliondo to allow an Emirati safari company, Ortelo Business Corporation, to organise hunting expeditions there. 

The government cancelled that deal in 2017, following allegations of corruption.

The East Africa Court of Justice came into force in 2001 to ensure adherence to the laws establishing the seven-nation East African Community bloc, made up of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.

Top Rwandan genocide suspect Felicien Kabuga was not a warlord but merely a businessman caught up in the 1994 ethnic slaughter, his defence lawyers told a Hague tribunal on Friday.

Kabuga’s trial at a UN court began on Thursday with prosecutors accusing the 87-year-old of setting up hate media that urged ethnic Hutus to kill rival Tutsis and supplying death squads with machetes.

But in their opening statements his defence rejected the “caricature” of Kabuga, once one of Rwanda’s richest men, saying he was not responsible for what they called a “grassroots” explosion of violence.

Prosecutors were trying to “twist the facts and rewrite history”, lead defence lawyer Emmanuel Altit told the court.

Instead the allegations should be seen against the backdrop of years of civil conflict in Rwanda that proceeded the 100-day killing spree in which more than 800,000 people died, he said.

“In the context of the war, Felicien Kabuga’s conduct is seen in an entirely different light — he was no longer a warlord but a businessman caught up in the prevailing chaos,” added Altit.

Kabuga refused for a second day to appear in court in protest, after complaining that he had lost confidence in Altit, his court appointed attorney, and that the tribunal had refused to let him choose a new lawyer.

Describing Kabuga as a “farmer’s son” who taught himself how to read and write, Altit said the suspect raised himself to become a successful businessman whose wife came from a mixed Hutu-Tutsi family.

“He had good relations with everyone, rich and poor, Hutu and Tutsi,” he said.

– ‘Mostly music’ –

The defence played down Kabuga’s role in setting up Radio-Television Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM) — which prosecutors said helped fuel the genocide by calling for the extermination of Tutsi “cockroaches”.

The broadcaster launched the year before the genocide with “mostly music shows” and was not set up to fuel ethnic hatred, while Kabuga could not be held responsible for what journalists broadcast, said Altit.

Defence lawyers also denied that Kabuga directly supported the Interahamwe, a Hutu militia, during the genocide, by bankrolling them, organising training, and importing machetes and other weapons.

“Felicien Kabuga, a businessman, supposedly morphed overnight into a warlord,” said Altit. “These charges do not withstand analysis.”

Allegations that Kabuga was part of a pre-planned “conspiracy” by Hutus to commit genocide were also false because the bloodshed was “spontaneous”, Altit argued.

“What would have been Felicien Kabuga’s motive for such a frantic activity to destroy an ethnic group?” he asked.

More than 50 witnesses are expected to appear for the prosecution, starting next Wednesday, in a trial that is set to take months.

After fleeing Rwanda, Kabuga spent more than 20 years evading justice before his arrest in Paris in 2020.

He is one of the last Rwandan genocide suspects to face justice, with 62 convicted by the tribunal so far.

Rights groups and victims have described the trial as a big step forward in efforts to achieve justice more than a quarter of a century after the killings.