Burkina Faso's new military leaders on Sunday said calm had been restored to the capital Ouagadougou following scenes of violence outside the French embassy. The country's future has been plunged into uncertainty after it suffered its second coup in a year.
Security forces fired tear gas at protesters who threw rocks and set fire to barriers outside the embassy as anti-French sentiment grew following the ousting on Friday of junta leader President Paul-Henri Damiba.
New coup leader Captain Ibrahim Traore said that Damiba – whose whereabouts are unknown – was planning a counter-offensive to his overthrow.
Traoré also accused the French army of hiding Damiba at one of its military bases – a charge that France quickly refuted.
“We formally deny involvement in the events unfolding in Burkina Faso," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "The camp where the French forces are based has never hosted Paul Henri Sandaogo Damiba nor has our embassy.”
French targets
The attack on the French embassy by angry Traoré supporters drew condemnation of “the greatest firmness" from Paris.
Crowds in Burkina Faso’s second-largest city, Bobo-Dioulasso also reportedly vandalised the French Institute, a cultural centre.
Since Friday Russian flags have been waved at rallies in support of the coup plotters with strong anti-French slogans.
The French Foreign Ministry told AFP a crisis centre had been opened in Ouagadougou, adding that the security of its citizens was its top priority.
Meanwhile French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anne-Claire Legendre urged French citizens to stay at home, telling France 24 on Saturday the situation in the capital was “confusing".
Jihadist attacks
Traoré, 34, accuses Damiba of failing to rein in an Islamist insurgency that has displaced almost 2 million people in the impoverished West African nation.
Damiba’s overthrow comes less than nine months after he himself ousted former president Roch Kabore for the same reason.
In a statement posted on the President’s Facebook page, Damiba said: “I call on Captain Traoré and company to come to their senses to avoid a fratricidal war that Burkina Faso does not need.”
The coup creates fresh problems for West Africa's political bloc, Ecowas, which has tried to persuade various coup leaders in the region to return to civilian rule.
