Burkina Faso: Protesters burn tires amid post-coup talks
|
Version 0 of 1. OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — Burkina Faso will return to civilian rule, and an interim government led by President Michel Kafando will be reinstated, reversing a military coup, Benin’s President Thomas Boni Yayi said on Saturday. “We are going to relaunch the transition underway — a transition led by civilians, with Michel Kafando,” he told reporters after a meeting with coup leader Gen. Gilbert Diendere in the capital, Ouagadougou. Thursday’s coup derailed a year-long transition process that followed the fall of longtime President Blaise Compaoré during a popular uprising last October. Elections were supposed to be held Oct. 11, but Diendere, a former top Compaoré aide, has said that date is too soon. The announcement Saturday by Boni Yayi and Senegalese President Macky Sall, who led the talks, stood in stark contrast to their comments about the crisis less than 24 hours earlier. Late Friday night, after a full day of meetings, Sall noted that the rival camps had shown little will to negotiate. Officials in the transition have insisted the junta’s departure was nonnegotiable. The coup was swiftly condemned by former colonial power France, the United States, the United Nations and the African Union, which suspended Burkina Faso on Friday. The coup also was not supported by the people. Earlier Saturday, anti-coup demonstrators burned tires at roadblocks in Burkina Faso’s capital and shouted slogans denouncing Diendere. Diendere was named interim leader of Burkina Faso on Thursday after members of an elite presidential security regiment stormed a government meeting and detained the acting president and prime minister. Soldiers from the regiment fired on protesters after the coup was announced, killing at least six people, but they had little presence Saturday on the streets of the capital, emboldening demonstrators who cried out “Homeland or death!” At least 10 people were killed and more than 100 injured in the crackdown on anti-coup demonstrations in recent days, a worker at the Yalgado Ouedraogo Hospital in Ouagadougou said Saturday. The worker spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. The Army chief, Gen. Pingrenoma Zagre, issued a statement Saturday condemning all violence against civilians and urging soldiers to act “with professionalism.” He called on civilians to “trust the armed forces” as they worked to resolve the crisis. — Reuters |