Interim leader challenges Burkina Faso military coup

Military officers overthrew the government of Burkina Faso last  Thursday, plunging the West African country into chaos and violence, while the leader of the country’s transitional parliament denounced the coup and declared himself the interim president. The coup was apparently led by allies of the country’s longtime ruler, who was toppled in October.
Gen. Gilbert Diendéré took control of the country, according to a military spokesman. General Diendéré is a close ally of the former president, Blaise Compaoré, who was in power for 27 years until last fall.
The crisis began lastWednesday evening when members of the Presidential Security Regiment stormed a cabinet meeting and seized the interim president, Michel Kafando, and the prime minister, Isaac Zida, along with other officials. They also raided the newsroom of Radio Omega, a station that was central in reporting news of the 2014 uprising, forced the journalists to cut off the signal, and set their offices on fire.
Last Thursday morning, the military spokesman, Lt. Col. Mamadou Bamba, appeared on television to make a statement on behalf of what he called the National Council for Democracy.
Colonel Bamba said it was necessary to “put an end” to the temporary government, which he said had deviated from the goals of the October revolt. He confirmed that Mr. Kafando had been removed, and that the National Transition Council, the equivalent of Parliament, had been dissolved.
Supporters of Mr. Kafando and Mr. Zida assembled in protest Thursday in various neighborhoods here, yelling, “Free the hostages!” They were dispersed by warning shots from military patrols that crisscrossed the capital. At least three people were killed.
The authorities ordered the country’s borders sealed, canceled flights and imposed a curfew from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m., beginning Thursday. Robert Sangaré, director of the largest hospital in Ouagadougou, said eight people had been admitted with serious wounds. Labor unions called for a strike. Protesters set on fire the house of Jean-Baptiste Natama, a politician who intended to run in elections scheduled for Oct. 11. Mr. Natama had been critical of the transitional government, but he has not been directly linked to the coup.
The whereabouts of Mr. Kafando, Mr. Zida and two other officials who were seized in the coup – Augustin Loada, the work and pensions minister, and René Bagoro, the housing and urban affairs minister – were unknown.
Chérif Sy, the leader of the National Transition Council, issued a statement Thursday declaring himself president in opposition to the military coup. He called on the military officers to abandon their attempts to seize power from the transitional authorities. On Wednesday evening, he had called the events a “serious attack on the republic and its institutions.” He exhorted “all patriots to defend the motherland.”
At the United Nations, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and other top officials strongly condemned the military takeover, demanding that the coup organizers release their hostages and allow the political transition to resume.
“The secretary general deplores the violence reported in the country and calls on the Burkinabé defense and security forces to exercise restraint and ensure respect for the human rights and security of all Burkinabé citizens,” Mr. Ban’s office said in a statement. “Those responsible for the coup d’état and its consequences must be held accountable.”
The high commissioner for human rights, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, said in a statement from his Geneva offices, “The arrest and detention of the president, the prime minister and two ministers of the transitional government by members of the Presidential Security Regiment is unacceptable.”
The office of President François Hollande of France also condemned the takeover and called for all those arrested to be freed, Reuters reported. Burkina Faso, formerly known as Upper Volta, was a French colony until 1960.
The Presidential Security Regiment was established by Mr. Compaoré, who took power in a 1987 coup that left President Thomas Sankara dead. A political commission recently published a report urging the dissolution of the regiment.
Colonel Bamba accused the previous government of manipulating the military “for personal ends,” and of trying to muzzle the news media. He said the security forces had been unfairly “politicized and manipulated” in a security environment that is “characterized by terrorism and organized crime.”
Western governments have warned that Burkina Faso and other countries in the sub-Saharan region face threats from Islamist groups, including Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the group’s North Africa affiliate.
Mr. Zida, a former security regiment member, was among those who pushed out Mr. Compaoré last year. Mr. Kafando is a former foreign minister and United Nations ambassador. The two men were part of a transitional administration that was to be replaced after the elections.
Pierre Englebert, a professor of African politics at Pomona College in Claremont, Calif., said he would not rule out an attempt by Mr. Compaoré’s associates to return to power. The transitional government “overplayed its hand” by banning members of Mr. Compaoré’s administration from participating in the coming elections, he said.
General Diendéré, the de facto leader of the security regiment, feared that it would be disbanded and, moreover, faced questions in an inquiry about the 1987 death of Mr. Sankara, Professor Englebert said.
Distributed by The New York Times