PM: Burkina Faso may disband presidential guard

Kafando on Friday signed a decree to disband the presidential guard.

Kafando took back power on Wednesday after the coup leaders bowed to domestic and global opposition and the threat of attack from loyalist forces.

He added that while there were still hard issues to be resolved as fallout of the coup, it is clear that progress will continue, judging from the fact that the people are determined and all the groups involved are cooperating.

According to a news release from the presidency published on Premium Times, the ECOWAS reached an agreement for the the reinstatement of President Michel Kafando as the transition President of Burkina Faso.

The coup sparked protests in the streets of the capital, and several people were killed as the presidential guard opened fire with live ammunition, witnesses said.

The coup led by brigadier-general Diendere Gibert, very close to the ex-president Blaise Compaore driven from power by popular insurrection in October 2014, caused officially 11 fatalities and 271 injured.

Diendere, a close friend and former chief of staff of the ousted president, said their putsch was meant to forestall election “chaos” and fraud.

Members of the unit stormed the cabinet room on 16 September taking the interim president, the prime minister and others.

Diendere announced the military had overthrown Burkina Faso’s interim government Thursday, declaring the arrest of the president and prime minister.

The general said the military staged the coup because the country’s political process was biased.

“Those who will have to answer to justice will do so”, he said as his team gathered at his city centre office rather than its customary presidential palace venue where the putschists burst in on them last week.

We wish to express our appreciation to the worldwide partners who condemned the events in Burkina Faso and took immediate action to help prevent the country’s democratic transition from being derailed, especially the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the African Union, and the United Nations.