Burkina Faso’s interim President Michel Kafando, who was taken hostage during a coup a week ago, said he was back in power and had restored a civilian transitional government.
Advertisement
The move came after marathon talks in the capital of regional and military heavyweight Nigeria, brokered by the Ecowas west African regional bloc, and threats by French President Francois Hollande that the coup leaders could face sanctions if they did not hand back power.
But as a 10 a.m. deadline to surrender passed, coup leader General Gilbert Diendere stood firm, saying he remained head of the junta and would await West African regional leaders’ mediation efforts.
The elite troops installed Gen Diendere as the leader last week – a month before elections had been due in the landlocked country. West African mediators want Kafando to be reinstalled until elections can be held. Some residents of Ouagadougou said they did not want the former intelligence chief to be allowed to leave the country. He said that French civil, financial and military cooperation with Burkina Faso would be suspended until power was transferred to civil authorities. The former ruling Congress for Democracy and Progress party said one of its leaders, Achilles Tapsoba, was arrested in the south of the capital.
Leaders of the presidential guard, who carried out the takeover, signed the deal with the army restoring peace after turbulence stirred by the take-over last week.
“The response by the population – especially given the history of the presidential guard and their abuses and that they were alleged to have killed numerous protesters in 2014 – that’s where I would say this is exceptional”, she said.
Monday, a United Nations spokesman said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is following the situation with great concern, and calls on both the military and presidential guard to exercise restraint and avoid violence.
This follows an Extraordinary Session of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government in Abuja on Tuesday to discuss the political crisis in Burkina Faso.
Now Kafando must organize elections to install a democratic government in Burkina Faso.
In this photo taken Monday, September 21, 2015, a protestor blows on a red musical trumpet, a vuvuzela, as he and others protest against a recent coup in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
Advertisement
Burkina Faso’s army ordered the presidential guard to disarm before it marched on the capital.
