Protests push Burkina Faso president from power

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — The president of Burkina Faso stepped down Friday after protesters stormed parliament and set the building ablaze, ending the 27-year reign of one of Africa’s longest-serving rulers.

Confusion reigned late Friday over who was in charge: An army general quickly announced he was stepping into the vacuum left by departing President Blaise Compaore, but then a colonel later appeared to be vying for power.

Gen. Honore Traore, the joint chief of staff, told a packed room of reporters that he would assume the presidency until elections were called. Later, an army statement read on television and attributed to Col. Yacouba Zida announced that the borders had been closed, and a transitional committee had been set up. Zida had earlier announced that the constitution had been suspended.

When he resigned, Compaore had said a vote would be held in 90 days, but Zida said the “length and makeup of the transitional body will be decided later.” It was not immediately clear who was put on the transitional committee.

Over the course of several dramatic hours, Compaore went from looking likely to jam through parliament a bill that would let him seek a fifth term to agreeing to step down next year to abandoning office immediately.

The quick succession of events took many by surprise, since Compaore had long out-maneuvered his adversaries and has in recent years become an important regional mediator. Burkina Faso hosts French special forces and serves as an important ally

of both France and the United States in the fight against Islamic militants in West Africa.

But French President Francois Hollande was quick to “salute” his decision to resign.

While he was respected on the international stage, critics noted that, under Compaore’s semi-authoritarian rule, the country of 18 million people remained mired in poverty. The landlocked country’s fortunes rise and fall with gold and cotton prices — and adequate rain in a region plagued by drought.

Compaore’s exit will have significance throughout the region, where many leaders have pushed through constitutional changes to prolong their rule and others are attempting to, said Africa expert Philippe Hugon.

“It’s obvious that what happened will have an echo in other countries,” said Hugon of the Institute for Strategic and International Relations.

In the end, Compaore was pushed from power by violent protests and an emboldened opposition that would accept nothing short of his resignation.

“I declare that I’m leaving power,” Compaore said in a statement. “For my part, I think I have fulfilled my duty.”

Thousands of opposition protesters gathered Friday in a square in the capital and burst into cheers when they heard the announcement of his resignation on hand-held radios.

“This is a new revolution” and a chance to get it right, said Donald Fayama, a shopkeeper who was among the demonstrators. “At least tomorrow, we are not going to wake up with the same face of the same president.”

Compaore, 63, was headed south to the city of Po, near the border with Ghana, a French diplomatic official said on condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the situation.

The outgoing president was still in Burkina Faso on Friday afternoon, and it was not clear if he was trying to cross the border, the official said. He had not asked the French, who were once the country’s colonial rulers, for any help.

For months, an opposition coalition had been urging Compaore not to seek re-election. But Compaore and his ruling party appeared ready on Thursday to push through a bill that would have allowed him to run again.

Determined to block the vote, protesters stormed the building, setting part of it on fire. At least three people were killed in the protests, according to Amnesty International, and dozens of demonstrators were shot.

Images of flames enveloping the legislature, cars burning in the streets and protesters massing in the capital raised the specter of a long standoff. But events moved swiftly, with the government suspending the vote and the military announcing that the legislature had been dissolved and an interim government would be formed.