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Little Tich

(6,171 posts) Wed Sep 16, 2015, 09:43 PM Sep 2015

Burkina Faso presidential guard seize president and PM

Source: Yahoo! News / Reuters

OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) - Soldiers fired warning shots to disperse hundreds of protesters outside Burkina Faso's presidential palace on Wednesday after the presidential guard burst into a Cabinet meeting and arrested the interim president, stirring fears of a military coup.

The presidential guard gave no explanation for its move, which came less than a month before an election due to complete a transition back to democracy after a popular uprising toppled Burkina's longtime ruler last year.

The guard, known as the RSP, was a key pillar of former President Blaise Compaore's rule before he was ousted by demonstrators last October when he attempted to change the constitution to prolong his 27 years in office.

Compaore, who seized power in a 1987 military coup in the poor, landlocked West African state, was a key ally of France and the United States in the fight against Islamists in the arid Sahel region.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/burkina-faso-presidential-guard-seize-president-pm-012143461.html

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Burkina Faso presidential guard seize president and PM (Original Post) Little Tich Sep 2015 OP

Friend moved there last month. bluedigger Sep 2015 #1

Military in Burkina Faso confirms coup, dissolves government muriel_volestrangler Sep 2015 #2

bluedigger

(17,087 posts)

1. Friend moved there last month.

Reply to Little Tich (Original post)

Wed Sep 16, 2015, 10:14 PM

Sep 2015

Thanks for posting.

muriel_volestrangler

(101,326 posts)

2. Military in Burkina Faso confirms coup, dissolves government

Reply to Little Tich (Original post)

Thu Sep 17, 2015, 04:31 AM

Sep 2015

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) — The military in Burkina Faso has taken to the airwaves to declare it now controls the country, confirming that a coup has taken place just weeks before national elections.

In the announcement aired early Thursday on national television and radio, the statement said that the transitional government had been dissolved.

http://news10.com/ap/military-in-burkina-faso-confirms-coup-dissolves-government/

What a place to be holding a media conference:

Sanef head describes scene in Burkina Faso

"People are staying indoors... Normally at this time you have cars and scooters on the streets but today there is nothing," said SA National Editors’ Forum director Mathatha Tsedu, who is in Burkina Faso for a media conference.

“Sporadic shots (were) heard but we’re told it's to keep people back from the revolution square," he said.
...
“The most senior person in government who is still free is Moumina Cheriff Sy who is the interim speaker,” said Tsedu.

Sy urged the Burkinabe people to mobilise and defend their revolution and crowds have gathered at the freedom square, which is where the gunshots were heard from.

http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/Sanef-head-describes-scene-in-Burkina-Faso-20150917

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