Burkina Faso’s coup leader battles to calm tension

The leader of the military coup in Burkina Faso, Captain Ibrahim Traore, who declared self, head of government, is still battling to calm tension in the West African country. Traore was compelled to say on Sunday that the situation in the country is under control, appealing to the people to refrain from acts of vandalism targeting the French embassy.

Captain Traore ousted President Paul-Henri Damiba in a military coup on Friday but raised  alarm of a counter-coup attempt on Saturday in a shootout between soldiers loyal to the ousted president and others loyal to the emergent military regime.

An army officer surrounded by Traore and other armed and masked soldiers,  in a statement broadcast on national television, declared, “We want to inform the population that the situation is under control and order is being restored.”