Burkina interim president back in charge after coup

BURKINA Faso’s interim President Michel Kafando, who was taken hostage during a coup a week ago, said yesterday he was back in power and had restored a civilian transitional government.

“I have returned to work,” he said in a brief speech to journalists at the foreign ministry in the capital.

“The transition is back and at this very minute is exercising the power of the state.”

Earlier the elite soldiers behind a coup and regular troops loyal to the government signed an agreement overnight to avoid violence as mediators were due to arrive in the capital, said a traditional leader involved in the deal.

Under the terms of the accord, the presidential guard agreed to leave Ouagadougou’s streets and return to barracks while loyalists will withdraw 50km outside of the capital, said the Mogho Naaba, the head of the ethnic Mossi community.

“They want to avoid clashes between soldiers … They are the ones who must protect the people and their belongings,” he said.

The presidential guard, which stormed a cabinet meeting a week ago and took the president and other government members hostage, will be confined to Camp Naba Koom II, their base in the capital.

Following an emergency summit of the regional bloc Ecowas in Nigeria on Tuesday, the presidents of Senegal, Togo, Benin, Ghana, Niger and Nigeria were to travel to Burkina Faso yesterday to ensure President Kafando is reinstalled. — Reuters