Anti coup protestors stand near the Libya hotel where talks about…
Benin’s President Thomas Boni Yayi, who has been mediating in the crisis alongside Senegal’s Sall, said on Saturday that the talks were expected to lead to the reinstatement of President Michel Kafando’s interim government on Sunday.
Mr Kafando, who was initially held by the coup leaders, is now free. He has not spoken publicly since the coup was announced on Thursday.
It stressed that the AU shall “neither recognise nor support any process conducted outside the Transition launched in Burkina Faso in November 2014, and therefore demands a return to the status quo ante”.
The violent incident threatened to torpedo efforts by regional mediators to peacefully roll back last week’s military putsch and salvage an October presidential election. The fear of a prolonged conflict similar to that witnessed in Burundi may serve as motivation for regional leaders to settle for a lesser deal with the coup leaders, despite popular opposition, thus making this latest power grab by Diendere a longer lasting change than first believed.
The latest coup was orchestrated by an elite army unit loyal to Compaore, who claim Kafando was excluding Compaore’s supporters from taking part in the ballot.
In the face of global condemnation of the coup, Diendere on Friday insisted he was acting in the interests of the impoverished, landlocked west African country.
“We simply want a set of proposals that allow us to get to the elections in all peace and serenity while assuring that the results are uncontested and incontestable”, Diedere told TV 5 MONDE earlier in the day.
The 54-member African Union has suspended Burkina Faso and imposed a travel ban and asset freeze on the junta.
Prime Minister Isaac Zida remained under house arrest, however.
A curfew is in place across the country from 7pm (8pm BST) until 6am tomorrow and land and air borders have been closed.
At least three people were killed and more than 60 injured, according to hospital sources, when members of the presidential guard fired warning shots to disperse crowds and used batons to beat back stone-throwing demonstrators. “It appears that these people know the importance of media that’s why they could run to the national broadcaster to announce the coup, but at the same time they launch an attack on other radio stations and brutalized journalists”.
The actions are seen as an olive branch as those behind the rebellion have faced growing protests which have spread beyond the capital to other cities.