Then President of Burkina Faso Paul Henri Sandaogo Damiba addresses the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly, September 23, 2022, at the UN headquarters
TOGO has arrested and extradited Burkina Faso’s former leader Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba back to his home country to face accusations of involvement in a plot to murder his successor.
Mr Damiba, who came to power in a 2022 coup, is accused of masterminding an attempt to assassinate interim President Ibrahim Traore.
According to Togo’s Justice Ministry, Mr Damiba was handed over to the Burkinabe authorities last Saturday.
The Togolese ministry said on Tuesday that the extradition was part of a deal in which Burkina Faso promised to ensure “physical integrity, dignity and fair‑trial rights for Mr Damiba and the absence of the death penalty.”
Mr Damiba is also accused by Burkina Faso of “criminal embezzlement of public funds, illicit enrichment, corruption, aggravated receiving of stolen goods and money laundering,” according to a ministry statement.
Earlier this month, Burkina Faso’s Security Minister Mahamadou Sana made a television announcement that security forces had thwarted a planned series of targeted assassinations aimed at destabilising the state, including what he called the “neutralisation” of President Traore.
Officials in Ouagadougou have repeatedly accused Mr Damiba of orchestrating plots from exile. In late 2024, he was again named publicly as the head of what authorities described as the “military wing” of a broader conspiracy.
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PRABHAT PATNAIK details the epochal shift of political power from Western neocolonialists to the people
ROGER McKENZIE explains how Ibrahim Traore has sparked the flames of hope across Africa, while the Western powers seek to extinguish all attempts to build true sovereignty in the long-exploited continent
