Captain Ibrahim Traore has been appointed as President of Burkina Faso after Paul-Henri Damiba was removed in the West African country’s second coup in less than nine months.

The Sahel country plunged into political turmoil on September 30 after a group of officers decided to remove Damiba, dissolve the transitional government and suspend the constitution due to his inability to deal with a worsening armed uprising.

Traore has been appointed as “Head of State, Supreme Head of the Armed Forces”, according to an official statement read out on national television by a spokesman for the military government, Captain Kiswendsida Farouk Azaria Sorgho.

The statement said Traore would now be the “guarantor of national independence, territorial integrity and continuity of the State”.

On Sunday, Damiba agreed to step down after army officers announced his deposition. He fled to Togo.

In January this year, Damiba together with the armed forces had launched a coup against President Roch Kabore and appointed himself transitional head of state.

He vowed to make security the country’s top priority.

Since 2015, Burkina Faso has been battling an escalating wave of violence attributed to rebel fighters allied to both al-Qaeda and the ISIL (ISIS) armed group, claiming hundreds of lives and displacing two million.

Interestingly, delegates from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) conducted a fact-finding mission on Tuesday and held meetings with influential religious and traditional leaders and Traore.