Burkina-Faso: Coup d’etat foiled/The circumstances surrounding the death of Major Tohougobou Ismaël should shed light on the situation in Burkina Faso
Major Tohougobou Ismaël, who had been on the run since his arrest in connection with the foiled coup, has sadly died. When the police went to arrest the commander, who had been spotted in Goughin, Ouagadougou, following a warrant issued by the military court, the officer opened fire. He was fatally wounded when the police returned fire.
Why did Major Tohougobou Ismaël open fire on his comrades-in-arms who had come just to take him away? Isn’t there more to the commander’s behaviour than meets the eye? The soldier was surely blaming himself for something.
The commander and the officers arrested were indeed involved in the attack on state security. And they are not alone. Other names have been mentioned in this coup d’état affair. They include the former Deputy Director General of Burkina Faso’s National Intelligence Agency, Major Sekou Ouédraogo, who had the financial and technical support of the head of the Ivorian intelligence services, Va-Sidiki Traoré.
According to our information, these officers, in their ill-fated plan, had reserved for Captain Ibrahim Traoré the same fate as that of the late Thomas Sankara: «to assassinate him and his collaborators, then to make the body disappear» Unfortunately for them, they were arrested.
This situation should have been a wake-up call to Burkinabè and should have enlightened the general public about what the French media are presenting as a «purge of the army» by President Ibrahim Traoré. Above all, these officers and the dead commander should be presented as victims. This is not the case. The people must make the distinction and discern who they want to sabotage their struggle.
Burkina Faso has no need of traitors; moreover, the President has made it clear that there will be no sympathy for anyone who wants to compromise the progress of the valiant people.
