Burkina Faso security forces on Friday claimed they had foiled another coup attempt. The Burkina government said it had stopped a conspiracy by forces loyal to ousted president Blaise Compaore, who is currently on exile in Côte d’Ivoire, to free last year’s coup plotters and also storm the country’s internal security headquarters . This latest coup attempt makes it the second in the space of a year after another was foiled in September 2015.
Blaise Compaore is notorious for organizing the coup that installed his friend and, arguably Burkina Faso’s greatest leader, Thomas Sankara into power in 1983. He also initiated the coup that eventually ousted and killed Thomas Sankara four years later, after which he made himself the leader. Then he organized democratic elections in 1991, 1998 and 2005 to seemingly grant his government legitimacy, as is the norm for most African dictators. His efforts to extend presidential term limits in 2014 was met with resistance by Burkinabes in what was termed a “Black spring” (a reference to the Arab spring some years ago) by an opposition spokesman. He eventually fled to Ivory Coast where he is till today. However, his legacies live on in Burkina Faso.
One of them is Burkina Faso’s Presidential Guards, about 1300 of them, the Presidential Security Regiment (RSP) formed by Compaore shortly after he became Burkina Faso’s leader in 1987. This elite unit comprised the best soldiers handpicked to protect the president. The presidential guards were stronger, and tactically better than the regular army, owing to their special training in Western nations. Compaore’s presidential guards are seemingly trained to prevent a coup, specifically the kind that brought him into power, and to start one, like Compaore’s right hand man and the Guards leader, General Diendere tried last year.
Last year’s failed coup ended in the presidential guards being integrated into the regular army. However, two coup attempts in the space of one year from this elite military unit suggests Compaore, still has control even from the Ivory Coast. Perhaps, the re-integration of the RSP into Burkina Faso’s regular army has suddenly made their dire situation dawn on them. Deprived of the luxuries and exclusivity they enjoyed under Compaore, staging a coup is perhaps their only option to re-unite with Compaore, and the special privileges, of course.
Hence, there will probably be more of these coups in the coming years, as long as traces of this institution still stands. 1300 tactically equipped soldiers with enough motivation (their lust for power) would never give up, buoyed on by their former leader. The Burkina Faso government was able to nip this coup attempt in the bud before it reached massive proportions. Question is, would it be able to prevent another one from happening? If it can, there would still be another problem.
Though we are in an age where the odds of successfully implementing a coup d’état is low, due to the advent/evolution of media/social media and its ilk, case in point Turkey, the constant security uncertainty surrounding such democracy wouldn’t give it ample time to focus on other sectors that matter. For the sake of Burkina Faso’s democracy, the members of the defunct presidential guards should be broken up, scattered and constantly monitored. They probably haven’t been dispersed enough since they could organize to plot another coup. To overcome this decades old institution, divide et impera is the way for Burkina Faso.
