The military in Burkina Faso has announced the dissolution of the country’s transitional government, a day after presidential guards arrested the interim president and prime minister.
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“France has friendly relations with Burkina Faso and we can not just allow what is happening today”, he added.
Deadly violent protests erupted early yesterday in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, sequel to the coup staged on Wednesday by officers of the Presidential Guard in Burkina Faso. “It is not a small group which is going to change that”, Moumina Cheriff Sy told Reuters.
Now, the transitional government has been dissolved, the military unit said in a TV address by Lieutenant Colonel Mamadou Bamba, who said they had put an end to “the deviant regime of transition”. “This incident is a flagrant violation of Burkina Faso’s Constitution and Transitional Charter”, it said.
General Gilbert Diendere, Compaore’s former chief of staff, was appointed head of a governing council, which announced a nighttime curfew and shut down the borders.
Protesters marching on the presidential palace in the capital Ouagadougou to condemn the hostage-taking scattered as bursts of gunfire broke out around 7.30pm.
Their public statement confirmed what many suspected Wednesday when the transitional president and prime minister were arrested and barricades were erected around the presidency.
He said the presidential guard had “sequestrated” the interim government, and he urged people to protest on the streets.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the European Union have condemned the leaders’ detention and called for their immediate release.
The 1,300-strong presidential guard has been known for its loyalty to Compaore whose supporters have been banned from contesting the elections set for October 11.
The 27-year rule of autocratic President Blaise Compaore ended past 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.
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Elections were due to be held on October 11, but Diendere said he would now need to speak to political parties and the worldwide community to see how to proceed.
