President Michel Kafando
The Junta leaders in Burkina Faso have released interim President Michel Kafando who has been in detention since Wednesday. However, Prime Minister Isaac Zida who was also detained alongside Kafando remains under house arrest.
Gen. Gilbert Diendere, leader of the military junta, announced the release on state television in Ougadougou, capital. “I can confirm that President Kafando has been freed. He is in good health,” Diendere said, adding that two other ministers have also regained their freedom. According to him, they were freed “as a sign of easing tensions and in the general interest’’.
The US, France and the African Union have condemned the Coup by the military men in the West African nation. A delegation of ECOWAS, including Senegal’s President Macky Sall and current ECOWAS chairman and Benin Republic leader Yayi Boni would arrive the country to assess current situation.
Meanwhile, protest has rocked the capital, Ouagadougou, following Gen. Diendere’s (former president Blaise Compaore’s chief of staff) appointment as the junta leader. Unspecified number of protesters have so far been detained while not less than three people have died in the protest.
Elections were due to be held on 11 October before the sudden coup d’état. The coup was announced the day the results of DNA test on former president Thomas Sankara was due to be declared. Sankara was killed in a 1987 coup that saw Compaore and fellow officers, including Gen. Diendere forcefully take power. Compaore, who is currently in exile, was accused of committing humanitarian abuses while in power and also trying to change the constitution to extend his term in office.
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