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| Campaore |
The
army’s seizure of power in Burkina Faso on Thursday amounted to a “coup”, an
opposition leader told AFP, adding that they consider the president’s departure
“non-negotiable”.
President
Blaise Compaore, who has ruled the country for 27 years, “is again in the
process of duping the people,” said opposition leader Benewende Sankara. “We
have been saying for a long time that he must hand in his resignation. His
departure is non-negotiable.”
Burkina
army seizes power after uprising against veteran ruler Burkina Faso’s President
Blaise Compaore was toppled on Thursday as the army took power after protesters
set parliament ablaze in a popular uprising against the veteran leader’s
27-year-rule.
The
demonstrators earlier forced the government to scrap a vote on controversial
plans to allow Compaore to extend his reign, with tens of thousands of people
joining a mass rally in the capital Ouagadougou calling for the strongman to
go.
Hundreds
of people stormed parliament and other public buildings including the national
television headquarters, ransacking offices and setting fire to cars, despite a
heavy police and army presence across the capital.
The army,
in a hastily arranged press conference, announced it was seizing power and
pledged to restore constitutional order within 12 months. It imposed a
dusk-to-dawn curfew and announced the dissolution of Compaore’s government and
the national assembly, and the creation of a transitional body to run the
country.
The
communique, read out by an officer, was signed by the army chief of staff
Nabere Honore Traore.
There was
no mention of Compaore’s whereabouts. Earlier a statement purportedly from the
presidency said a state of emergency had been declared. “The army chief of
staff is charged with carrying out this decree, which enters into force from
this day,” it said.
The
document was not dated and carried a signature that did not resemble the
president’s usual one.
The
United States, Burkina Faso’s former colonial ruler France and the African
Union all voiced alarm over the unrest gripping the poor west African nation.
UN chief
Ban Ki-moon dispatched a special envoy to help restore calm and the European
Union called for an end to the violence.
“The army
is united with the people,” said Benewende Sankara, a leading light in the
opposition. Army chief Traore had earlier met with retired general Kouame
Lougue, a former defence minister being touted by the opposition as a
replacement for Compaore, to discuss the crisis.
Tens of
thousands of protesters massed on the streets of the capital shouting “Lougue
in power!”
– Worst
crisis since 2011 – At least one man was killed in the chaos that erupted just
before lawmakers were due to vote on legislation that would allow 63-year-old
Compaore — who took power in a 1987 coup — to contest next year’s election, AFP
correspondents said.
The
government, in the country’s worst crisis since a wave of mutinies shook the
country in 2011, later announced it was calling off the vote.
Police
and soldiers, out in force after mass rallies earlier this week, failed to stop
the onslaught despite using tear gas against the protesters.
Black
smoke billowed out of smashed windows at the parliament building, where several
offices were ravaged by flames, although the main chamber so far appeared to be
unscathed.
Several
hundred protesters also broke into the headquarters of the national television
station RTB, pillaging equipment and smashing cars, correspondents said.
Crowds of
people later massed near the presidential palace but were being held back by
troops from the presidential guard who fired warning shots into the air.
The
ruling party headquarters in the second city of Bobo Dioulasso and the city
hall was also torched by protesters, witnesses said.
The
United States said it was “deeply concerned” about the crisis and criticised
the attempts to alter the constitution, while France appealed for calm and said
it “deplored” the violence. Senegal meanwhile advised its citizens in Burkina
Faso to stay indoors.
– Anger
at ‘constitutional coup’ – The legislature had been due to examine a proposed amendment
that would allow Compaore to run for re-election in November 2015.
His bid
to cling to power has angered many, including young people in a country where
60 percent of the population of almost 17 million is under 25.
Many have
spent their entire lives under the leadership of one man and — with Burkina
Faso stagnating at 183rd out of 186 countries on the UN human development index
— many have had enough.
The
situation is being closely watched across Africa where at least four heads of
state are preparing or considering similar changes to stay in power, from
Burundi to Benin.
Compaore
was only 36 when he seized power in the coup in which his former friend and one
of Africa’s most loved leaders, Thomas Sankara, was ousted and assassinated.
He has remained
in power since, re-elected president four times since 1991 — to two seven-year
and two five-year terms.
Known in
colonial times as Upper Volta, the landlocked country became independent from
France in 1960 and its name was changed to Burkina Faso (“the land of upright
men”) in 1984.
AFP
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