Togo’s government said on Monday that ousted Burkina Faso coup leader Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba had taken refuge there in the aftermath of the latest military putsch in Ouagadougou on Friday.
The minister of communication and government spokesman, Akodah Ayewouadan, said Damiba was in Togo as part of the country’s commitment to “peace in the sub-region.”
“Togo, like ECOWAS, welcomes the fact that the spirit of peace has prevailed,” he told the AFP news agency. “The reception of … Damiba is part of this spirit.”
Unconfirmed reports of Damiba’s presence in Togo, originating from diplomatic sources, had circulated over the weekend as the two military leaders and their supporters vied for control of the country.
Captain Ibrahim Traore had blamed Damiba’s forces for conducting a “counteroffensive” with French assistance, prompting a categorical denial from France and violence at the country’s embassy in Ouagadougou. Damiba had issued a statement calling on the breakaway military leaders to “come to their senses.”
In Burkina Faso’s case, Traore blamed Damiba — as Damiba had blamed elected President Roch Marc Christian Kabore in January — of not doing enough to fight Islamist rebels in the country. The 34-year-old captain complained in an interview with Voice of America of poor conditions and inadequate equipment for his troops in the field.
“I go on patrol with my men and we don’t have the basic logistics,” he told VoA. “In some villages, the trees don’t have leaves because people eat the leaves. They eat weeds. We’ve proposed solutions that will enable us to protect these people, but we are not listened to. We made so many proposals.”
The seven-year campaign has claimed thousands of lives, displaced millions and left more than a third of the country’s territory out of government control.
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