Gunfire rang out early on Friday in Burkina Faso's capital and the state broadcaster went off the air, sparking fears that another coup attempt may be underway, nine months after the democratically elected president was ousted from power.
It was not immediately known where coup leader-turned president Lt. Col. Paul Henri Sandaogo Damiba was in the West African country.
He had given a speech the day before in Djibo, in the north of Burkina Faso.
Friday's developments felt all too familiar in West Africa, where a coup in Mali in August 2020 set off a series of military power grabs in the region.
“This smacks of a coup attempt," said Eric Humphery-Smith, senior Africa analyst at risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft. “While gunfire around military barracks could be due to some form of mutiny, the closure of the national television station bodes ill.”
Last week, Damiba had traveled to New York where he addressed the UN General Assembly. In his speech, Damiba defended his January coup as “an issue of survival for our nation,” even if it was ”perhaps reprehensible" to the international community.
Burkina Faso's coup came in the wake of similar takeovers in Mali and in Guinea, heightening fears of a rollback of democracy in West Africa.