The people of Ouagadougou are reacting to the announcement that Captain Ibrahim Traoré, leader of the 30 September coup d’etat, has taken power.
“It is a good thing that he assumes (power)” says one man. Traoré was designated head of state and supreme commander of the national armed forces on national television, in a statement entitled “Acte fondamental”.
“My problem is that as a young person, he needs advice”. says another citizen by the name Moumouni Ouédraogo. ”As he is a young person he needs advice. Without advice, it can’t work. We hope that all he has to do is listen to the advice and he’ll be fine.” Ouédraogo stressed.
Just a week ago, 34-year-old Ibrahim Traore was an unknown, even in his native Burkina Faso.
But in the space of a weekend, he catapulted himself from army captain to the world’s youngest leader — an ascent that has stoked hopes but also fears for a poor and chronically troubled country.
Traore, at the head of a core of disgruntled junior officers, ousted Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, who had seized power just in January.
The motive for the latest coup — as in January — was anger at failures to stem a seven-year jihadist insurgency that has claimed thousands of lives and driven nearly two million people from their homes.
On Wednesday, Traore was declared president and “guarantor of national independence, territorial integrity… and continuity of the State.”
