ANALYSIS
Burkina unrest threatens Compaore government
19 April, 2011 (By Richard Valdmanis and Mathieu Bonkoungou)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Military unrest spreads, soldiers rampage
* Compaore replaces army top brass
* Residents angered by failings of long-serving regime
DAKAR/OUAGADOUGOU, April 18 (Reuters) - Soldiers
ransacking villages, traders setting fire to government buildings, and
students rioting in the streets all paint a bleak picture for Burkina
Faso's long-serving President Blaise Compaore.
After more than two decades of mostly placid rule in the West
African cotton growing and gold mining country, the former army
captain is facing an eruption of anger that could force him from
power.
The turmoil, joined by angry students, entrepreneurs, and residents
protesting against rising food prices, police brutality and crime, is
rooted in frustration over the slow pace of reform during
Compaore's rule of the impoverished state.
While its capital Ouagadougou hosts a top African film festival,
international conferences and the plush Ouaga 2000 district for the
rich, Burkina Faso languishes close to the bottom of the U.N.'s
Human Development Index, and income per head runs half the
average for sub-Saharan Africa.
"Burkinabes ... are perhaps more than other people in Africa likely
to rise up in 'soulevement populaire' with the army and remove a
leader when they are fed up or feel the regime is too corrupt," said
Lydie Boka of Strategico.
"They have done that at least three times in the past. It is indeed the
beginning of the end for Compaore," she said, citing popular
uprisings that toppled three Burkinabe leaders between 1966 and
1982.
Compaore has held a tight grip on the country since taking over in a
coup in 1987, and has attempted to establish himself as a regional
leader by mediating political crises that have struck in Ivory Coast,
Guinea and Togo.
He has reacted to the military mutinies in his own country by sacking
the government and the head of the armed forces, and by declaring
a curfew aimed at silencing frequent night-time outbursts in the
capital and elsewhere.
Residents on Monday said hundreds of disgruntled soldiers were
rampaging in four towns in southern Burkina Faso, days after
members of Compaore's Presidential Guard fired their weapons
near the presidential palace in Ouagadougou.
"They have been firing on the homes of army commanders, but they
have not attacked civilians," said a resident in the town of Kaya who
asked not to be named.
EGYPT-STYLE UPRISING?
Students also set fire to several buildings in Koudougou, 140 km
west of the capital, on Monday, including the local offices of the
ruling party, witnesses said.
If Compaore fails to contain the unrest by announcing reforms and
limiting his own mandate to the end of his current term -- which
ends in 2015 -- he may face an uprising similar to those that toppled
the presidents of Tunisia and Egypt.
"The North African people's revolution has finally arrived in West
Africa," said Sebastian Spio-Garbrah of DaMina Advisors in New
York. "Compaore fits the Ben Ali, Mubarak model -- a pro-
Western, anti-democratic, former military officer, who took office
under suspicious circumstances."
"The implications of Compaore's overthrow for Guinean and Ivorian
stability will be enormous," he said.
Compaore, 60, seized power after the still-unexplained death of
predecessor Thomas Sankara, himself a military captain who had
staged a coup in 1983.
An analyst said divisions within the military posed a serious risk to
Compaore's rule, adding that talks were underway to address
grievances over salaries.
"The loyalists that were with Compaore for the 1987 putsch still pull
the strings, but the old guard is ageing and a gulf has opened up
between them and the junior officers," said Ashley Elliot, of Control
Risks.
"The negotiations between senior and junior officers that began this
weekend are about conditions and pay, but between the lines they
are about redressing a generational balance of power," he said.
Despite instituting multi-party rule, he has faced little or no effective
opposition since, and won the last two elections, in 2005 and 2010,
with an overwhelming majority.
A new law from 2005 had prohibited presidents from standing for
more than two terms but the Constitutional Court ruled the law
could not be applied retroactively, clearing the way for Compaore's
re-election.
A landlocked country of 15 million people, Burkina Faso has for
years avoided the instability that has plagued its neighbours while
benefiting from high gold and cotton prices.
(Editing by Giles Elgood)
Courtesy
Burkina unrest threatens Compaore government
19 April, 2011 (By Richard Valdmanis and Mathieu Bonkoungou)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Military unrest spreads, soldiers rampage
* Compaore replaces army top brass
* Residents angered by failings of long-serving regime
DAKAR/OUAGADOUGOU, April 18 (Reuters) - Soldiers
ransacking villages, traders setting fire to government buildings, and
students rioting in the streets all paint a bleak picture for Burkina
Faso's long-serving President Blaise Compaore.
After more than two decades of mostly placid rule in the West
African cotton growing and gold mining country, the former army
captain is facing an eruption of anger that could force him from
power.
- Since mid-March,
the capital and
outlying towns have
been hit by unrest,
most recently by
members of
Compaore's own
presidential guard
who have fired their
weapons in the air,
looted shops, and
stolen vehicles in
anger over their pay.
The turmoil, joined by angry students, entrepreneurs, and residents
protesting against rising food prices, police brutality and crime, is
rooted in frustration over the slow pace of reform during
Compaore's rule of the impoverished state.
While its capital Ouagadougou hosts a top African film festival,
international conferences and the plush Ouaga 2000 district for the
rich, Burkina Faso languishes close to the bottom of the U.N.'s
Human Development Index, and income per head runs half the
average for sub-Saharan Africa.
"Burkinabes ... are perhaps more than other people in Africa likely
to rise up in 'soulevement populaire' with the army and remove a
leader when they are fed up or feel the regime is too corrupt," said
Lydie Boka of Strategico.
"They have done that at least three times in the past. It is indeed the
beginning of the end for Compaore," she said, citing popular
uprisings that toppled three Burkinabe leaders between 1966 and
1982.
Compaore has held a tight grip on the country since taking over in a
coup in 1987, and has attempted to establish himself as a regional
leader by mediating political crises that have struck in Ivory Coast,
Guinea and Togo.
He has reacted to the military mutinies in his own country by sacking
the government and the head of the armed forces, and by declaring
a curfew aimed at silencing frequent night-time outbursts in the
capital and elsewhere.
Residents on Monday said hundreds of disgruntled soldiers were
rampaging in four towns in southern Burkina Faso, days after
members of Compaore's Presidential Guard fired their weapons
near the presidential palace in Ouagadougou.
"They have been firing on the homes of army commanders, but they
have not attacked civilians," said a resident in the town of Kaya who
asked not to be named.
EGYPT-STYLE UPRISING?
Students also set fire to several buildings in Koudougou, 140 km
west of the capital, on Monday, including the local offices of the
ruling party, witnesses said.
If Compaore fails to contain the unrest by announcing reforms and
limiting his own mandate to the end of his current term -- which
ends in 2015 -- he may face an uprising similar to those that toppled
the presidents of Tunisia and Egypt.
"The North African people's revolution has finally arrived in West
Africa," said Sebastian Spio-Garbrah of DaMina Advisors in New
York. "Compaore fits the Ben Ali, Mubarak model -- a pro-
Western, anti-democratic, former military officer, who took office
under suspicious circumstances."
"The implications of Compaore's overthrow for Guinean and Ivorian
stability will be enormous," he said.
Compaore, 60, seized power after the still-unexplained death of
predecessor Thomas Sankara, himself a military captain who had
staged a coup in 1983.
An analyst said divisions within the military posed a serious risk to
Compaore's rule, adding that talks were underway to address
grievances over salaries.
"The loyalists that were with Compaore for the 1987 putsch still pull
the strings, but the old guard is ageing and a gulf has opened up
between them and the junior officers," said Ashley Elliot, of Control
Risks.
"The negotiations between senior and junior officers that began this
weekend are about conditions and pay, but between the lines they
are about redressing a generational balance of power," he said.
Despite instituting multi-party rule, he has faced little or no effective
opposition since, and won the last two elections, in 2005 and 2010,
with an overwhelming majority.
A new law from 2005 had prohibited presidents from standing for
more than two terms but the Constitutional Court ruled the law
could not be applied retroactively, clearing the way for Compaore's
re-election.
A landlocked country of 15 million people, Burkina Faso has for
years avoided the instability that has plagued its neighbours while
benefiting from high gold and cotton prices.
(Editing by Giles Elgood)
Courtesy
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| Burkina Faso Burkina Faso (i /bərˌkiːnə ˈfɑːsoʊ/ bər-KEE-nə FAH- soh; French: [byʁkina faso]) – also known by its short- form name Burkina – is a landlocked country in west Africa. It is surrounded by six countries: Mali to the north, Niger to the east, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Côte d'Ivoire to the southwest. Its size is 274,200 square kilometres (105,900 sq mi) with an estimated population of more than 15,757,000. Formerly.... More From Wikipedia |
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| Members of the presidential guard said they are claiming many things, including bonuses [AFP] |