Constitutional order will return when conditions are right, says Burkina Faso coup leader

Paul-Henri Damiba, leader of Burkina Faso’s military junta, says the West African country will return to constitutional order when conditions are right.

Damiba spoke for the first time on national television since leading a mutiny that ousted President Roch Marc Kabore on Monday.

“When the conditions are right, according to the deadline that our people will define in all sovereignty, I commit to a return to a normal constitutional order,” Damiba said.

Damiba said he would convene various sections of the country’s society to agree on a roadmap to plan and carry out needed reforms.

The junta, after seizing power, said it would propose a calendar for a return to constitutional order “within a reasonable time frame” but has not elaborated on its plans.

The soldiers, who call themselves the Patriotic Movement for Safeguard and Restoration (MPSR), launched a mutiny on Sunday night, and removed Kabore on Monday, blaming him for failing to contain worsening violence by Islamist militants.

Damiba assured the citizens affected by violence linked to al Qaeda and the Islamic State that he would take back control of those zones.

He said security would be the priority.