Fire on the French flag and long live the Russian one: Burkina Faso's coup from within

Bobo-Dioulasso (Burkina Faso)It was September 30th, and in Burkina Faso, rumors of another coup—the second in just eight months—were circulating, and the country was glued to their television screens. There was no signal. Gunfire and explosions could be heard near the Ouaga 2000 neighborhood, where the presidential palace, the homes of wealthy families, and the embassies are located. The capital, Ouagadougou, awoke in uncertainty and confusion. The rumors were confirmed: a new military uprising had just taken place.

But Unlike the coup of January 24, when Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Samaogo Damiba overthrew former President Roch Marc Christian KaboréThis time, the internet remained operational, and young people organized to show their support for the coup leaders, Captain Ibrahim Traoré. Facebook and WhatsApp served as the primary means of communication for this uprising. "It's a popular insurrection mixed with a coup, because many people took to the streets until Traoré declared a state of emergency," explains Joseph Bado, an organizer of the protests and a member of the Patriotic Front, a coalition of civil society organizations.

And here a key element comes into play: the rejection of France. When the coup leaders seized the studios of Radio Televisión Burkinabé (RTB), they warned that Damiba was organizing a "counter-offensive" to the coup from the Kamboinsin military camp, where there is a French base, and was appealing, as she knew how, to the anti-French and anti-colonial sentiment that currently drives a large part of the population. Quickly, groups of 100 to 150 young people on motorcycles, honking their horns and using tree branches to block the road, took to the streets waving Burkina Faso and Russian flags. Their first target was the caretaker's house at the French Institute in Bobo-Dioulasso, the economic capital. Meanwhile, in Ouagadougou, a group of demonstrators directly attacked the French embassy and also looted the French Cultural Center.

This coup is not just about vying for the country's leadership. It's about everything that's at stake. who will be the new ally in the fight against jihadist terrorismFollowing public discontent with the results of Operation Barkhana, deployed by the French army in the Sahel in 2014, Vladimir Putin's Russia, increasingly entrenched in the African continent, has all the makings of a major player.

Russian interference

"Time will tell if people have been manipulated by Russia, but to say so from the outset is to treat Burkinabe society like idiots," says journalist Kalidou Sy, editor-in-chief of the television channel France 24. Both the embassy and the French Institute in Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso have closed. Furthermore, the French embassy advised its citizens to limit all travel as much as possible. "Our problem isn't the French, but French policy," exclaims Bado. He adds, "French policy is outdated, it's finished. We've finally understood that their policy is diabolical in Africa." This sentiment has spread from neighboring Mali, which expelled the French ambassador this past January, and from Senegal, where anti-French protests have also been felt in recent years.

“How long has Africa been cooperating with Europe? So what? We’re still mired in poverty!” says Joseph Bado, organizer of the protests and member of the Patriotic Front, a coalition of civil society organizations. In a way, the Russian flag in the streets of Burkina Faso signifies direct opposition to the West and, above all, to French neocolonial policies. While young Burkinabe occupied the streets of Burkina Faso under the slogan “à under France[Outside France], French President Emmanuel Macron met in Paris with his counterpart from Guinea-Bissau and president of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Umaro Sissoco Embaló, an institution discredited by neighboring Mali and the Burkinabe insurgent movement.

"In the square there is food, chairs and we listen Alpha Blondy"France is deceiving us, treating us like idiots, like we can't think for ourselves," explains a young protester, a law student who quit his job as a security guard to join the protests. "Do you think someone from Russia came here to manipulate me?" he concludes.

For months nowWestern media and governments emphasize the danger that Moscow represents to world peaceBut many Africans don't see Russians in the same light as Europeans. There are historical explanations. For example, during the Cold War, the Soviets aligned themselves with anti-colonial rhetoric and fiercely criticized apartheid South Africa, which they considered a white preserve of Western interests.