Coup leader sworn in as Burkina Faso President, vows to tackle insecurity

Three of the four are in West Africa

The latest of them being 41-year-old Lt. Col. Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba of Burkina Faso

Lt. Col. Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba of Burkina Faso has formally been sworn-in as President of the West African country, weeks after he led a coup.

The event was held at the Constitutional Court premises in the capital Ouagadougou on Wednesday, February 16, 2022.

The inauguration ceremony, was broadcast on TV but with no foreign representatives present,” a BBC report noted.

“To… gain the upper hand over the enemy, it will be necessary… to rise up and convince ourselves that as a nation we have more than what it takes to win this war,” je is quoted to have said in his address.

Until his ‘rise’ to the position of a coup leader, Damiba’s last held post as a Lieutenant Colonel of the army was head of security for the capital, Ouagadougou (the country’s third security region).

He had only been handed that post in December 2021 by outgone President Kabore in a move analysts said was to retain the support of the military at the time.

From Ouagadougou security chief, Damiba was announced on Monday evening as leader of the junta known as “Patriotic Movement for Safeguard and Restoration, or MPSR.”