The African Union (AU) suspended Burkina Faso and slapped sanctions on the leaders of its military coup on Friday as troops tried to stop protesters from marching on the capital’s Revolution Square.
The 54-member bloc also imposed a travel ban and asset freeze on the junta’s leaders, with Uganda’s representative denouncing the kidnapping of Burkina’s interim leaders on Wednesday as a “terrorist” act.
The latest coup was orchestrated by an elite army unit loyal to deposed Burkinabe president Blaise Compaore, with the unit claiming that Burkinabe Interim President Michel Kafando was excluding Compaore’s supporters from Oct. 11 polls.
“All measures taken by those who took power by force in Burkina Faso are null and void,” Ugandan Ambassador to the African Union Mull Katende said.
The strong African Union reaction came as Senegalese President Macky Sall, chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and Benin President Thomas Boni Yayi met with coup leader General Gilbert Diendere — Compaore’s former chief of staff — in Ouagadougou.
“We must create a dynamic of national reconciliation ... to allow the country to reposition itself on its path and on its march to democracy,” Sall said on Friday.
Diendere said later that while the talks were “fruitful,” nothing had yet been agreed.
“I prefer not to get ahead of the iguana in the water, because we did not decide on anything for the moment,” he said, using a local expression.
As the pair of leaders arrived, members of the elite Compaore’s Presidential Security Regiment, which spearheaded the coup, fired in the air to disperse protesters who were trying to march on Revolution Square, the epicentre of a popular uprising that overthrew Compaore in October last year.
He was forced to flee the country after trying to extend his 27-year rule over the impoverished west African nation.
Coup leaders released Kafando and two ministers on Friday — saying this was “a sign of easing tensions” — but Burkinabe Prime Minister Isaac Zida, a former officer in the regiment, remained under house arrest.
Anti-coup protests have spread to several cities and towns. In the economic capital, Bobo-Dioulasso, women gathered on Friday holding spatulas and brooms — symbols of the Balai Citoyen (“Civic Broom”) movement at the forefront of last year’s anti-Compaore protests — showing they wanted to clean up the country’s politics.
Burkina Faso had been preparing to hold its first election in decades before the latest coup threw the nascent democracy into turmoil.
The international community has unanimously condemned the coup, with the UN, AU, EU, ECOWAS, the US and former colonial power France denouncing the junta.
Groups opposed to Compaore on Friday demanded the restoration of the transitional authorities and urged that elections be held in October as planned.
The parties, led by former presidential favorite Roch Marc Christian Kabore, called for a campaign of civil disobedience and an immediate end to the coup leaders’ “brutal and murderous oppression.”
In Ouagadougou, there were fewer cars on the road than usual, with some shops locked shut. Clashes between coup forces and protesters since Wednesday have left at least six people dead, according to hospital sources, with three people killed on Friday alone.
The military had earlier announced a curfew and closed land and air borders, reopening them on Friday afternoon.
Many of the country’s citizens have defied the rules, with residents of Bobo-Dioulasso still making their way to local taverns to discuss the latest news.
“We are no longer working, so we have no more money,” said Abbas Traore, an electrician.
“What little we do have is for Tchapalo,” he added, referring to a local type of beer.
Coup chief Diendere has denied that the coup was orchestrated by Compaore, whose whereabouts are unknown.
However, analysts have cast doubt on suggestions that Compaore could have been completely unaware of plans for a takeover by his old aide.
“It’s a question we cannot answer — because by definition, Blaise Compaore never speaks — but it is difficult to imagine that Blaise Compaore would be unaware of a project that was so meticulously prepared,” said Rinaldo Depagne, an analyst with the International Crisis Group based in Dakar.
Diendere has insisted that he is committed to holding elections, saying on Thursday evening: “We do not intend to drag this on, we do not intend to stay.”
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