Traoré appointed Burkina Faso’s president amid concerns he could ally with Russia

Captain Ibrahim Traoré was appointed president of Burkina Faso on Wednesday (5 October), less than a week after the latest coup that deposed Damiba amid growing violence in the Sahel.
The Sahel country plunged into political turmoil on 30 September after the second coup in less than nine months that saw a group of officers removing Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba — who had seized power in January — due to his inability to deal with a worsening armed uprising, dissolving the transitional government and suspending the constitution. Traore has been appointed as “Head of State, Supreme Head of the Armed Forces”, according to an official statement that also said that the new president would now be the “guarantor of national independence, territorial integrity… and continuity of the State”.
Earlier this week, delegates from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) visited the country on a fact-finding mission and held meetings with religious and traditional leaders as well as the new military ruler. Since 2015, Burkina Faso has been battling an escalating wave of violence attributed to rebel fighters allied to both al-Qaeda and the ISIL (ISIS) armed group, claiming hundreds of lives and displacing two million. The coup was followed by protests against France, which colonized Burkina Faso in the past, and the emergence of Russian flags among demonstrators, leading to speculations that the new leader may forge close ties with Moscow. The United States has warned the army of the risks of allying with Russia, saying they condemned “any attempt to exacerbate the current situation in Burkina Faso”.