Ex-Burkina Faso President extradited from Togo over alleged coup plot

Togo has extradited Burkina Faso’s former transitional president, Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, back to Burkina Faso, the government announced on Tuesday.

Damiba is accused of plotting several attempted coups in his home country.

Damiba seized power in January 2022, but he was removed from office just nine months later in a coup that brought the current junta leader, Captain Ibrahim Traore, to power.

After fleeing to Togo, Damiba has faced repeated accusations from Burkina Faso’s military junta of planning coups and even assassination attempts. The latest accusation came earlier this month.

Damiba was arrested in Lome on January 16, “in execution of an arrest warrant accompanied by an extradition request” sent four days earlier by Burkinabe authorities, Togolese Justice Minister Pacome Adjourouvi said in a statement.

He was “handed over to the authorities” in Ouagadougou the day after his arrest, the statement said.

He is being prosecuted for “criminal embezzlement of public funds, criminal illicit enrichment, corruption, incitement to commit offences and crimes, aggravated concealment and money laundering”.

Togo’s justice minister said the extradition was approved because Burkina Faso provided “guarantees” regarding Damiba’s physical integrity and his right to a fair trial.

He also noted the “absence of the death penalty,” even though Burkina Faso recently reinstated it for crimes of high treason.

Authorities in Ouagadougou had yet to comment on the matter as of Tuesday afternoon.

Since seizing power, the Traore-led junta has repeatedly said it has thwarted attempts to destabilise the country.

On January 3, the military leadership said it had foiled an assassination attempt against Traore, pointing the finger at Damiba.

If it had succeeded, it would have been the chronically unstable West African country’s third coup in four years.

A series of alleged conspirators were paraded before state television’s cameras to make “confessions”, with many claiming to have acted on Damiba’s instructions.

Traore has pursued an anti-imperialist and pro-sovereignty policy and distanced the country from former colonial ruler France, while strengthening ties with Russia.

Like its neighbours, Niger and Mali, who are also under military rule, Burkina has been battling violence by jihadists linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group over the past decade.

All three Sahel states quit the West African regional bloc ECOWAS last year and formed the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).

Togo, a member of ECOWAS, has maintained good relations with the landlocked trio, thanks to its access to the sea.

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