Togo has arrested and expelled Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, Burkina Faso's former military leader, to Ouagadougou where he faces coup-plotting accusations from the junta that deposed him in 2022. Two sources confirmed to Reuters on Tuesday that Damiba, who himself seized power in a January 2022 coup before being overthrown by Captain Ibrahim Traoré nine months later, was transferred from his Lomé exile to face charges of attempting to destabilize Burkina Faso's current government.
The expulsion represents more than the closing of one leader's political arc. It signals a fundamental shift in West African norms around political exile and the consolidation of a new authoritarian order centered on the Alliance of Sahel States—Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger. Where neighboring capitals once provided tacit refuge for overthrown leaders as a regional pressure valve, Lomé's decision to hand over Damiba demonstrates how the militarized bloc now projects power beyond its borders, demanding compliance even from states outside its formal alliance structure.
The erosion of regional sanctuary
Political exile has long functioned as West Africa's unwritten conflict-resolution mechanism. When military takeovers succeeded, allowing deposed leaders to quietly decamp to neighboring capitals served dual purposes: it removed potential flashpoints for internal violence while preserving regional stability. Côte d'Ivoire hosted figures from across the region; Senegal sheltered former leaders; and Togo, under the Gnassingbé dynasty's pragmatic authoritarianism, maintained neutrality that made Lomé a natural landing zone.
Damiba's forcible return demolishes this arrangement. Burkina Faso's government had repeatedly accused him of orchestrating destabilization from Togo, including an alleged coup attempt on January 3, 2026. Whether these accusations carry substantive evidence matters less than Ouagadougou's success in securing his transfer. The message is unambiguous: exile is no longer a guaranteed sanctuary, and Traoré's government possesses sufficient leverage—whether through the Alliance of Sahel States, bilateral pressure, or Togo's calculation that harboring Damiba posed greater risk than expelling him—to compel compliance from capitals that once operated autonomously.
For Lomé, the calculus appears straightforward. President Faure Gnassingbé's government, facing its own legitimacy challenges after decades of dynastic rule, cannot afford to be perceived as a base for regional subversion. With Sahel juntas launching a 5,000-strong joint force and demonstrating military coordination across borders, Togo's vulnerability became apparent. The alternative—being labeled complicit in anti-junta plotting—carried diplomatic and potentially security costs that outweighed any obligation to a failed coup leader.
Members are reading: How the Alliance of Sahel States is weaponizing regional norms to eliminate opposition and redefine sovereignty on authoritarian terms.
Precedent and future instability
The immediate implications center on what Damiba's fate signals to other regional actors. Every military officer contemplating intervention now understands that failure means potential execution, not comfortable exile. Every neighboring government recognizes that neutrality offers no protection from demands by the Sahelian bloc. And every opposition figure, civilian or military, sees the narrowing space for political alternatives.
Togo's compliance suggests the Alliance's influence extends beyond formal membership, creating a sphere where security imperatives override older diplomatic conventions. Whether this produces greater stability—by deterring future coup attempts—or greater violence—by eliminating escape valves and forcing conflicts to resolution through force—remains the defining question for the region. What is certain is that the safety mechanisms that once contained West Africa's political turbulence are being systematically dismantled by governments that view them as vulnerabilities rather than protections.
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