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Burkina Faso’s ousted military leader Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba has agreed to resign two days after army officers announced the country’s second coup.

Al Jazeera reports that Mr Damiba “offered his resignation in order to avoid confrontations with serious human and material consequences” on Sunday.

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Mr Damiba provided “seven conditions” for his resignation. These conditions include a guarantee of security for his allies in the military, “a guarantee of his security and rights”, and assurance that the new military leaders will respect the pledge he gave to West Africa’s regional bloc for a return to civilian rule within two years.

The Citizen reported, based on unnamed diplomatic sources, that Mr Damiba had fled to Togo’s capital Lome on Sunday.

Last Friday, Peoples Gazette reported soldiers on the streets and heavy gunfire near the main military camp and residential areas of Burkina Faso’s capital. Explosions were also heard near the presidential palace.

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Captain Ibrahim Traore then announced that he had ousted Mr Damiba, dissolved the government and suspended the constitution and transitional charter. He said a group of officers decided to remove Mr Damiba over his inability to deal with a worsening Islamist insurgency.

This is the second coup seen by the African country since January. On January 22, police in the capital Ouagadougou clashed with protesters at a banned protest over the government’s handling of its insecurity concerns which it has battled since 2015.

On January 24, President Roch Marc Christian Kabore was arrested by soldiers after gunshots were heard near his private residence.

In February, Coup leader Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba was inaugurated as president on February 16. In March, the military junta signed a charter establishing a three-year transition period before the country would hold its elections.

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Mr Damiba travelled to New York, where he addressed the United Nations General Assembly. In his speech, Mr Damiba defended his January coup as “an issue of survival for our nation,” even if it was ”perhaps reprehensible” to the international community.

(Peoples Gazette)