General Gilbert Diendere sits at the presidential palace in Ouagadougou
on September 17, 2015 after Burkina Faso's presidential guard declared a
coup, a day after seizing the interim president and senior government
members. AFP PHOTO | AHMED OUOBA
OUAGADOUGOU, BURKINA FASO
A
general close to ousted strongman Blaise Compaore took the lead in a
Burkina Faso coup Thursday and promised elections would be held "soon",
as the death toll from gunshots fired at protesters rose to three.
The
latest unrest hit the landlocked west African nation just weeks ahead
of presidential and legislative elections slated for October 11 — the
country's first since veteran leader Compaore was forced out last year.
The
power grab began on Wednesday when soldiers from the elite presidential
guard (RSP) burst into a cabinet meeting and seized interim President
Michel Kafando and Prime Minister Isaac Zida.
The move
plunged the country into fresh uncertainty but coup leader General
Gilbert Diendere — Compaore's former chief-of-staff — insisted he still
wanted elections to take place.
"Our wish is to
reorganise ourselves and to move towards elections soon," General
Diendere told AFP hours after seizing power, while refusing to give a
date for a vote.
"But we plan to discuss all that with
the concerned actors, notably the political parties and civil society
organisations to establish a timetable that allows us to move towards
presidential and parliamentary elections," he added.
Wednesday's
coup triggered immediate street protests outside the presidential
palace where the leaders were being held, with presidential guard
officers firing shots to disperse demonstrators.
Doctors
at the main Ouagadougou hospital said three people had died from
gunshot wounds since Wednesday, while at least 60 others were admitted
for various injuries.
REVOLUTION SQUARE
On
Thursday, presidential guard officers positioned their armoured
vehicles in front of the presidential palace and more shooting was heard
around the complex.
But Revolution Square — the
epicentre of last year's protests against Compaore — was empty apart
from military patrols, and the streets of the capital were mostly
deserted.
Elsewhere in the former French colony, angry residents erected barricades in several towns and cities in protest at the coup.
In
the second city of Bobo-Dioulasso, shops were closed and soldiers
remained in their barracks, residents said, while a taxi driver said the
home of a member of Compaore's party had been torched.
After
dissolving the country's political institutions, the guards immediately
announced the establishment of a "National Democratic Council" which
they said would end "the deviant regime of transition" and create a
government which would organise "inclusive" elections.
Diendere
was appointed head of the council, which announced a night-time curfew
with land and air borders closed until further notice.
Speaking
to French television, Diendere said he had had no contact with Compaore
and claimed he was backed by the country's powerful army.
He told AFP the president and the premier would "be released at the right time".
INTERNATIONAL CONDEMNATION
International
condemnation of the coup was swift, with the United Nations Security
Council, the United States and the European Union, one of the main
donors to the poverty-stricken country, demanding the release of
Burkina's transitional leaders.
UN Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon has described the coup as "a flagrant violation of Burkina
Faso's constitution" and said on Thursday that the country's military
should "exercise restraint".
In a joint statement, the
UN, African Union and 15-nation Economic Community of West African
States (ECOWAS) demanded "the immediate and unconditional release of the
hostages".
ECOWAS chief, Senegal's President Macky
Sall, will visit Burkina Faso on Friday, an official source said on
condition of anonymity.
Compaore fled into exile in
Ivory Coast after a popular uprising in October last year, sparked by
his attempt to extend his 27-year rule.
A transitional
government had been charged with running the country until the elections
but Compaore supporters were banned from standing under a controversial
law passed in April that made anyone backing "unconstitutional change"
ineligible.
Speaking to AFP, Diendere said electoral
rules would be "revised... in order to allow all those who wish to
participate in the vote to do so".
The elite RSP corps
of 1,300 men, considered the best trained in the Burkinabe army, caused a
brief political crisis in February when they demanded Zida's
resignation after he publicly called for the unit to be disbanded.
The officers reiterated the demand again in June, creating further tensions.
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