Burkina Faso’s president and prime minister arrested and detained

Michel Kafando, the transitional President of Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso’s presidential guard has detained the interim president and prime minister, plunging the west African country into uncertainty a few weeks before the first elections since the ouster of Blaise Compaore from the presidency, The Guardian reports. The detention of the nation’s transitional leaders on Wednesday triggered immediate street protests outside the presidential palace where the men were being held. Gunfire pierced the air as soldiers tried to disperse several hundred demonstrators.
International condemnation was swift, with the United Nations and the African Union demanding their immediate release. The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, said he was “outraged” by the developments. “This incident is a flagrant violation of Burkina Faso’s constitution and transitional charter,” he said.

Lieutenant Colonel Yacouba Isaac Zida, Burkinabé military officerand prime minister

Members of the powerful presidential guard, the RSP, still loyal to Compoare “burst into the cabinet room at 2.30pm and kidnapped the president of Burkina faso Michel Kafando and prime minister Isaac Zida, and two ministers, Augustin Loada and Rene Bagoro,” said interim parliamentarly speaker Cheriff Sy in a statement. Broadcasts by Radio France Internationale and the private Omega radio station were cut. Omega boss Alpha Barry told France 24 television that RSP troops had interrupted programming and threatened to kill staff if they did not stop transmitting.

               Protesters against the abduction                   (C)Reuters

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. By 9pm the occasional shot could still be heard, the AFP correspondent at the scene said. Crowds had gathered with whistles and vuvuzelas near the palace, shouting “Down with the RSP”.
The headquarters of Compaore’s Congress for Democracy and Progress (CDP) party was ransacked in the evening. Sy called the detention of the president and prime minister “a serious attack on the republic”.
“I call on all patriots to mobilise to defend the motherland,” he said.
“Duty calls us because the Burkinabe nation is in danger. We call on the solidarity that active forces, political forces, civil society and the international community have with all the people of Burkina Faso to defeat this operation.”
Compaore was toppled in October 2014 and fled into exile in Ivory Coast after a popular uprising triggered by his attempt to extend his 27-year rule.
A transitional government has been charged with running the poverty-stricken nation until presidential and legislative elections are held, the first round of which is to take place on 11 October.
In a joint statement the United Nations, African Union and the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) demanded “the immediate and unconditional release of the hostages”.

Source: The Guardian