Who rules Burkina Faso? Great confusion reigns in the country, while soldiers announced on Friday that they had dismissed the leader of the junta, Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba. A confusion that also affects the French institutions on the spot since on Saturday, a fire broke out in front of the embassy in Ouagadougou and another in front of the French Institute in Bobo-Dioulasso. And this Sunday, tear gas grenades were fired from inside the French Embassy in Ouagadougou.
These shots took place to disperse demonstrators supporting the self-proclaimed putschist Ibrahim Traoré, noted an AFP journalist. A few dozen demonstrators had gathered in front of the embassy, ​​setting fire to protective barriers and throwing stones inside the building, on the roof of which French soldiers were positioned, when the gas was fired.
two fires
At the end of Saturday afternoon, two French institutions were targeted by demonstrators: a fire broke out in front of the French embassy in Ouagadougou, noted an AFP journalist, and another in front of the French Institute in Bobo-Dioulasso, according to witnesses in this city in the west of the country.
In Paris, the Quai d’Orsay immediately reacted on Saturday, “condemning the violence against our embassy with the greatest firmness” and adding that “the safety of (his) compatriots” was his “priority”. These attacks “are the work of hostile demonstrators, manipulated by a disinformation campaign against us,” said his spokeswoman, Anne-Claire Legendre, “calling on the stakeholders to ensure the security” of diplomatic buildings.