DAKAR, Senegal — The army officer who seized power over Burkina Faso in a coup in January conceded on Sunday that he too had been ousted by mutinying soldiers, capping two days of unrest and plunging the West African country again into uncertainty about its political future.
Lt. Col. Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, who has led the junta ruling the country since the January coup, officially resigned on Sunday after the military assured his security, according to a statement released by religious and community leaders acting as mediators.
The resignation appeared to end two days of tensions in the capital, Ouagadougou, between factions loyal to Colonel Damiba and the man who has now replaced him, Capt. Ibrahim Traoré.
Captain Traoré was designated as president until a transitional leader could be named, according to a statement read on national television. No timeline was provided.
A poor, landlocked West African nation of 21 million, Burkina Faso has faced a mounting insurgency led by extremists affiliated with Islamist groups that has displaced nearly 10 percent of its population and killed scores of civilians.
This weekend’s coup began on Friday when military officers accused Colonel Damiba of failing to sufficiently contain the Islamist insurgency. Colonel Damiba initially refused to relinquish power and, in a post to Facebook on Friday, warned of a “fratricidal war” if Captain Traoré did not back down.
The military has also committed widespread human rights abuses against civilians, according to rights groups, casting doubts on its popularity throughout the country and in turn filled the ranks of extremists.
The post left many confused over who was actually in charge, but by Sunday the message had been deleted and Captain Traoré declared that the situation was “under control.” As he left the headquarters of the national television network on Sunday, protesters shouting “Merci” and “Our President” urged Captain Traoré to seek a new international partner in the country’s fight against Islamist insurgents: Russia.
“No to France, and Traoré should travel to Russia soon,” said Roland Ouedraogo, a protester who was demonstrating in front of the French Embassy on Sunday.
Captain Traoré had accused France, the country’s former colonial power, of helping Colonel Damiba stage a comeback and protecting him at the its embassy or at a base where French special forces are posted. The French Foreign Ministry denied it was hosting Colonel Damiba in any of those locations, and Captain Traoré later retracted his comments.
In Ouagadougou, it felt as if history was on an eight-month loop: After Colonel Damiba took power in January, Russian flags were unfurled in the capital and protesters called for the then-new leader to reject the country’s ties to France.
A wave of anti-French sentiment has spread across West Africa in recent years, and some factions of Burkina Faso’s military felt Colonel Damiba was too close to France.
France has no heightened presence in Burkina Faso — unlike in Mali, where in August it ended a nine-year military operation that failed to stop an Islamist insurgency — and there was no reinforced partnership under Colonel Damiba’s leadership.
Still, Seydou Zongo, a protester who was demonstrating on Sunday in front of the French Embassy, said: “Traoré should issue a note ordering France to quit Burkina Faso now, and he should call Putin and his special envoys. We’re firmly waiting for them.”
In the short term, this weekend’s coup is likely to worsen a dire security and humanitarian situation in Burkina Faso, where nearly 10 percent of the population has been displaced because of violence carried out by Islamist extremists.
International aid operations were suspended as of Saturday, and relief aircraft grounded, according to Tom Peyre-Costa, a spokesman for the Norwegian Refugee Council in West and Central Africa.
The coup was almost unanimously condemned by regional and international organizations like the United Nations, the African Union and the European Union.
The United States called “on those responsible to de-escalate the situation, prevent harm to citizens and soldiers, and return to a constitutional order,” according to a statement on Saturday from the State Department’s spokesman, Ned Price.
As of Sunday, Russia had not commented on the coup.
But Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, an associate of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and the founder of Wagner Group, a shadowy military contractor that has fought for Russia in Ukraine and with the armies of Mali and the Central African Republic, on Saturday praised the power grab by Captain Traoré.
A senior French official, who asked not to be named because he was not allowed to comment on developments in Burkina Faso, said there was no clear evidence that Russia or Wagner Group were involved in the weekend’s coup.
Oumar Zombre contributed reporting from Ouagadougou, and Eric Schmitt from Washington.
