Attempt to burn French Embassy in Burkina Faso amid junta 'clash' with France

Officials of the French government have confirmed violent attacks on its Embassy in the Burkinabe capital Ouagadougou on Saturday, October 1, 2022.

Multiple videos shared on social media showed citizens outside the Embassy attempting to enter the facility whiles others also lit bonfires outside the premises.

A few hundred others are seen outside the premises in protest mood, a

Read full articleday after the Captain Ibrahim Traore-led group announced the overthrow of Lt. Col. Sandaogo Damiba.

The French Foreign Ministry has had a busy last few hours as they firmly dismissed being in collusion with ousted Damiba to launch a counter attack on the new junta.

According to an October 1, 2022 statement read on national TV, RTB, a member of the new junta, Sous-Lieutenant Jean-Baptiste Kabre, said the former leader of the MPSR - name of the junta, had refused to leave power quietly.

Kabre alleged that Sandaogo Damiba was planning a "counter-offensive" and claimed further that he’s doing this from a French base.

In an October 1, 2022 statement from the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, France denied the allegation and said it was not hosting Damiba in any of its facilities.

"France formally denies any involvement in the events underway since yesterday in Burkina Faso.

"The camp where the French forces are located has never hosted Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, nor has our embassy," the statement read.

French embassy in Burkina Faso ???????? strongly denies allegations that Burkinabe authorities would be protected or safe guarded by the French army.
France ???????? has NOTHING to do with the events of the past hours in ???????? https://t.co/cghfSeq7Wm

— Anne Sophie (Akosua) Avé (@annesophieave) October 1, 2022

Read the complete statement below:

STATEMENT BY THE SPOKESPERSON OF THE MINISTRY FOR EUROPE AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Burkina Faso
October 1, 2022

France formally denies any involvement in the events underway since yesterday in Burkina Faso.

The camp where the French forces are located has never hosted Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, nor has our embassy.

PRESS SERVICE
Spokesperson Sub-Directorate

New junta leader Captain Traore's announced the takeover of executive power and deposition of Damiba, barely 10 months after the later seized power from democratically elected Christian Roch Marc Kabore.

The junta dissolved the government and the transitional national assembly as well as imposed a curfew and closed all the country's borders.

The overthrow was premised on continued deterioration of the insecurity situation even as terrorists continue to launch deadly raids on security forces and the local population.