OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) – Soldiers fired warning shots to disperse hundreds of protesters outside Burkina Faso’s presidential palace yesterday 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.
Moumina Cheriff Sy, the head of the transitional parliament, said the latest show of strength by the presidential guard was a danger to the Burkinabe nation itself.
“Members of the RSP burst into the room of the cabinet of ministers at around 1430 and took hostage the President of Burkina Faso Michel Kafando, the Prime Minister Yacouba Izaac Zida, the minister of public administration … and the minister of housing,” he said in a statement.
The apparent power-grab came just two days after a government commission recommended dismantling the well-equipped 1,200-strong force, calling it an “army within an army”.
In February, an attempt by the prime minister to reform the guard led to a political crisis as it attempted to force him to resign.
