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Protesters attack French Embassy in Burkina Faso after coup

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Angry protesters attacked the French Embassy in Burkina Faso’s capital Saturday after supporters of the West African nation’s new coup leader accused France of harboring the ousted interim president, a charge French authorities vehemently denied.
Lt. Col. Paul Henri Sandaogo Damiba was overthrown late Friday less than nine months after he’d mounted a coup himself in Burkina Faso, which has been failing to effectively counter rising violence by Islamic extremists.
Comments by a junta spokesman earlier Saturday set into motion an outburst of anger in Ouagadougou, the capital.
“Damiba has tried to retreat to the Kamboinsin French military base to prepare a counteroffensive in order to sow divide amongst our defense and security forces,” said Lt. Jean Baptiste Kabre, reading a statement on behalf of the new junta leadership.
Video on social media showed residents with lit torches outside the perimeter of the French embassy and other images showed part of the compound ablaze.
In Burkina Faso’s second-largest city, Bobo-Dioulasso, angry crowds also vandalized the French institute.
Damiba’s whereabouts remained unknown but France’s Foreign Ministry issued a strongly worded statement: “We formally deny involvement in the events unfolding in Burkina Faso. The camp where the French forces are based has never hosted Paul Henri Sandaogo Damiba nor has our embassy.”
French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anne-Claire Legendre later told France-24 Saturday night that it was a “confusing situation” in Ouagadougou and she urged French citizens to stay at home.
Traore, the 34-year-old army captain who was named in charge after the Friday evening coup was announced on state television, said in interviews that he and his men did not seek to harm Damiba, who unlike other deposed leaders in the region has yet to give a resignation.

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