Burkina Faso president and prime minister detained in coup
The detention of the nation’s transitional leaders on Wednesday triggered immediate street protests outside the presidential palace where the men were being held.
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 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.
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 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.
