Members of the Burkina Faso military announced this morning that the military had seized power from the West African nation’s transitional government in a coup, unseating the interim president and prime minister and dissolving the government in the process.
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Three days ago, the Commission for National Reconciliation and Reforms, headed by Catholic Archbishop Paul Ouedraogo, submitted a report to the transitional government calling for the presidential guard to be disbanded.
The 27-year rule of autocratic President Blaise Compaore ended previous year in a popular uprising, but interim President Michel Kafando struggled to manage the transition to democracy in one of the world’s least-developed countries.
-Soldiers detained Burkina Faso’s transitional president, prime minister, Yacouba Isaac Zida, and an unknown number of cabinet members.
Private station Radio Omega said on social media that presidential guard soldiers had fired warning shots outside the studio and forced journalists to shut down transmission.
Announcing the coup, Bamba said “wide-ranging talks” were being held to form a government leading to “inclusive and peaceful elections”.
The military communique declared that land and air borders were closed and that a curfew would be in effect from 7pm to 6am.
“We have called for our nationals living in Burkina Faso to pay extra attention to personal safety and we will continue to closely watch developments in the country”, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Eleanor Wang (王珮玲) said.
The speaker of the parliament, Cheriff Sy, has said this is “clearly a coup” and has called upon the Burkinabe people to “immediately rise up”.
The move was condemned by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the White House, the African Union, the regional West African community, ECOWAS, and the former colonial power, France.
Supporters of Compaore were banned from standing in the upcoming elections under a controversial election law passed in April, which made anyone who supported “unconstitutional change” ineligible to run. The coup was led apparently by allies of the long-time ruler of the country who had been toppled last October.
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Francois Hollande, the French president, has condemned the coup and called for the immediate release of those arrested.
