Burkina Army: Coup leaders must surrender or face attack

Soldiers who stormed a cabinet meeting, plunging the poor West African country into chaos and uncertainty, detained President Michel Kafando and Prime Minister Yacouba Zida.

“All units (of the army mobilised on Monday to march on the capital) reached Ouagadougou” overnight, Colonel Serge Alain Ouedraogo, deputy head of the Burkinabe police, told AFP.

The leader of a coup in Burkina Faso said on Tuesday he was still in charge despite the passing of a a deadline set by loyalist soldiers for his forces to surrender or face attack.

“We ask them to immediately lay down their arms and go to Camp Sangoule Lamizana”, read the statement signed by several military chiefs, referring to a barracks in Ouagadougou.

The RSP, an elite unit of 1,300 guards, declared a military coup on Thursday and installed General Gilbert Diendere as the country’s new leader.

The office of France’s president Francois Hollande said the president strongly condemned the coup d’état and called for the immediate liberation of all who are arrested and for the authorities who were ruling the country to be reinstalled.

Soldiers from the presidential guard were largely absent from Ouagadougou’s streets for the first time since Wednesday’s coup, and as night fell hundreds of people defied a nighttime curfew put in place by the coup leaders last week.

West African regional mediators have proposed an agreement that calls for General Diendere to step down, and for interim President Michael Kafando to be reinstalled until elections can be held.

Kafando and Zida are freed, as army troops enter the capital to cheers from the public and begin to negotiate the surrender of coup leaders.

The president urged the people of Burkina Faso to remain calm and steadfast in support of the transitional order, elections and democratic governance with the full assurance that Nigeria, ECOWAS and the global community would uphold their right to peace, freedom, democracy and good governance.

Subsequently, General Gilbert Diendere, the former Chief of Staff, was named the head of a new junta the following day. “We shall barricade everything”, he said.

Street protests erupt outside the presidential palace where the interim leaders are being held, and RSP officers open fire to disperse demonstrators. We want to get out there and take our destiny in our hands.

In late October 2014, hundreds of thousands of workers and youth stormed the parliament in the capital of Ouagadougou ousting former military dictator turned politician, Blaise Compaore, a staunch ally of France and the United States.

“We don’t agree with what ECOWAS decided”, protester Ahmed Zio said.