OFEIBEA QUIST-ARCTON, BYLINE: The coup was announced on national radio and television a day after elite presidential guard soldiers stormed a cabinet meeting and took hostage Burkina Faso’s interim president, Michel Kafando, and prime minister, Colonel Isaac Zida.
Advertisement
Their public statement confirmed what many had suspected when the transitional president and prime minister were arrested on Wednesday and barricades were erected around the presidency.
A Burkina Faso general, who served as top military aide to former dictator, Blaise Compaore, for three decades, was named Thursday as the leader of a coup that sacked the West African nation’s interim government.
Compaore was toppled in October 2014 and fled into exile in Ivory Coast after an uprising triggered by his attempt to extend his 27-year rule.
The statement also announced the closure of the West African nation’s land and air borders as well as the implementation of an overnight curfew.
Meanwhile, the head of Burkina Faso’s transitional parliament called on the armed forces to step in and halt a coup by “a small group” of military officials, and said he would assume leadership until the president was released.
Burkina Faso’s military initially had picked Zida to lead the country when it swooped in and took control in the power vacuum after President Blaise Compaore’s resignation.
Transitional parliamentary speaker Cheriff Sy said the move was “clearly a coup”.
Burkina Faso is scheduled to hold general elections on October 11.
The global community swiftly condemned the coup, which violated the country’s constitution. Talks will be held to discuss the formation of a government of national unity, he said.
“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.
As part of its counter-jihadist Barkhane operation in Africa’s Sahel region, France has 220 soldiers stationed in Ouagadougou, the Burkinabe capital.
The USA , France and the African Union have also condemned the coup in the former French colony.
Advertisement
Sy called the detention of the president and prime minister “a serious attack on the republic”.
