Burkina Faso’s President Blaise Compaore on
Thursday refused to give up power but called off
a state of emergency imposed after a violent
uprising against his 27-year rule that saw
parliament set ablaze.
It remained unclear who was in charge of the
country after an earlier announcement by the
army that it had taken control, dissolved
parliament and would put in place a transitional
government.
Opposition figures
said around 30
people had been
killed and 100
injured as tens of
thousands took to
the streets in
protest against
plans to allow
Compaore to
extend his long
reign.
Hundreds stormed
parliament and
other public
buildings including
the national television headquarters in the capital
Ougadougou, ransacking offices and setting fire
to cars despite a heavy police and army presence.
Compaore initially called a state of emergency but
appeared on television just a few hours later to
say it had been called off.
“I have heard the message,” the president said.
But he refused to step down, saying instead that
he was “available” for talks on “a period of
transition after which power will be transferred to
a democratically elected president”.
At a hastily assembled press conference earlier in
the day, the army said it was imposing a dusk-to-
dawn curfew. It pledged to restore constitutional
order within 12 months.
The communique, read out by an officer, was
signed by the army chief of staff Nabere Honore
Traore.
– Opposition says army in ‘coup’ –
A leading opposition member, Benewende
Sankara, described the army’s move as a “coup”
and said protesters would accept nothing less
than the president’s immediate resignation.
Compaore “is again in the process of duping the
people,” he said. “We have been saying for a long
time that he must hand in his resignation. His
departure is non-negotiable.”
Sankara and another opposition leader gave the
death toll from the violence as “around 30″. AFP
was only able to confirm four deaths and six
seriously injured, based partly on reports from the
capital’s main hospital.
The chaos erupted this week as lawmakers
prepared to vote on legislation that would allow
63-year-old Compaore — who took power in a
1987 coup — to contest elections in November
2015.
The lawmakers called off the vote, but not before
Burkina Faso plunged into its worst crisis since a
wave of mutinies shook the country in 2011.
Black smoke billowed out of smashed windows at
the parliament building on Thursday, where
several offices were ravaged by flames.
Several hundred protesters also broke into the
headquarters of the national television station
RTB, pillaging equipment and smashing cars, AFP
correspondents said.
The ruling party headquarters in the second city
of Bobo Dioulasso and the city hall were also
torched by protesters, witnesses said.
The United States welcomed Compaore’s
apparent decision to abandon his bid for another
term.
“We also welcome his decision to form a
government of national unity to prepare for
national elections and to transfer power to a
democratically elected successor,” said State
Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki in a
statement.
Former colonial power France appealed for calm
and said it “deplored” the violence.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon dispatched a special envoy
to help restore calm and the European Union
called for an end to the violence.
– Watched across Africa –
Many of the tens of thousands massed on the
streets of the capital called for a retired general
and former defence minister, Kouame Lougue, to
take control, shouting “Lougue in power!”
There were reports that army chief Traore had
met with Lougue earlier in the day to discuss the
crisis.
Compaore’s bid to cling to power has angered
many, particularly 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.
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