Protesters Demand President’s Ouster in Burkina Faso

A popular reggae tune, “Quitte le Pouvoir!” or “Give Up Power,” the jaunty anthem of African protesters, alternated with a variation of the slogan used in Tunisia four months before: “Blaise, give it up!” Some protesters held up signs comparing Mr. Compaoré, a former army captain who has been regularly re-elected with 80 percent of the vote, to the ousted Tunisian ruler, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali.

Politicians from many of the country’s 34 opposition parties joined local pop music stars in a demonstration that lasted for hours under a blazing sun. They condemned Mr. Compaoré’s lengthy rule and accused him of corruption and patronage politics. Trucks of friendly soldiers waved to the protesters, many of them young people.

The demonstration came on the heels of two months of ferment among the usually quiet population, as students, soldiers, merchants and most recently the police have all taken to the streets to protest high prices, low wages and Mr. Compaoré’s undivided rule in a country that is ninth from the bottom on the United Nations’ Human Development Index.

A political crisis in neighboring Ivory Coast — which landlocked Burkina Faso depends on for food shipments — has forced up living costs, adding to the unrest.

The previous protests have been violent, with soldiers rampaging through the capital and provincial cities earlier in April, looting and burning offices of Mr. Compaoré’s ruling party, and even co-opting his elite presidential guard. The ruler, who seized power in a 1987 coup, has been shaken: he has dismissed his government, named a former journalist as his new prime minister and met with army officers — he did so on Friday — to promise better pay.

Those measures did not impress Saturday’s fist-waving crowd, assembled in a giant asphalt plaza. “Since Blaise Compaoré took power, by the method that you know” — and the crowd shouted “murder, murder!” — “there’s a tiny minority that has robbed and pillaged, while the majority has stagnated in misery,” said Tahirou Barry of the National Renaissance Party.

“The people are fed up! The soldiers are fed up! The students are fed up! The shopkeepers are fed up!” yelled Norbert Tiendrebeogo of the Social Forces Front. The crowd cheered a local rap star, S’Mockey, when he yelled: “The problem is, it’s not a democracy. It’s been tropicalized.”

Still, the heterogeneous nature of the protest’s organizers, including politicians from several dozen different parties, points to the central problem of the opposition, in the view of analysts: it is deeply divided after years of Mr. Compaoré’s rule.

“I’d be very surprised if the Compaoré regime collapses,” said Pierre Englebert, a political scientist at Pomona College and a Burkina Faso expert. “At the core of his regime, he’s repressive. But he handles things with a certain distance. You can be corrupted. He’ll let steam off.”

Among the opposition’s strongest cards are the unsolved killings of two popular men: Thomas Sankara, Mr. Compaoré’s predecessor and army comrade, who was killed during the 1987 coup that he helped lead; and Norbert Zongo, a crusading journalist who was killed in 1998 while he was looking into the Compaoré family’s finances. There were frequent references to the two men on Saturday.

The high price of rice was also a focus of complaints. “Life has just become too hard,” said Moussa Lingani, a printer. Rice, he said, was now over $40 a bag.

“I haven’t eaten in two days,” said Remy Kafando, a farmer. “To eat, it’s just hard. We want a complete change. We don’t want anymore of this. We’re ready for civil war.”

 

Burkina Faso Police Join in Popular Unrest

 

DAKAR, Senegal — Police officers in Burkina Faso joined a growing wave of popular unrest on Thursday, firing their weapons in the air and shooting tear gas as discontent over high prices, low wages and the 24-year-rule of President Blaise Compaoré spread in the landlocked West African nation.

Officers poured into the streets in the central district of the capital, Ouagadougou, on Thursday morning, according to a local journalist, Paul Miki Rouamba, who witnessed the scene. He said they had fired off shots around the central police station and roared through the capital on motorcycles to express their discontent over low salaries and some of the force’s commanders.

The police in other cities of the impoverished, Colorado-size nation of 16 million also fired into the air in a show of anger at economic conditions, according to news organizations in Burkina Faso, including in the country’s second largest city, Bobo-Dioulasso. The day before, merchants in the city of Koudougou burned down several buildings associated with the local government to protest a crackdown on unpaid rent in the municipal market.

The police are the latest group to exhibit frustration in Burkina Faso, joining students, soldiers and merchants in the tightly controlled, one-party state run by Mr. Compaoré ever since a coup d’état that saw the demise of his former army comrade, in the late 1980s.

Mr. Compaoré was re-elected with over 80 percent of the vote last fall, amid opposition complaints of an unfair election, and his rule has mostly gone unchallenged in a country where 80 percent of the population relies on subsistence agriculture and three quarters are illiterate. That dynamic, analysts suggest — low educational levels in one of the world’s poorest countries — makes a North African-style revolt against a long-ruling autocrat unlikely.

But with the political crisis this year in a neighboring state, Ivory Coast, on which Burkina Faso is economically dependent — thousands migrate there for work, and most goods pass through the port in Abidjan, Ivory Coast’s main city — the country’s economy has suffered and social discontent has mushroomed.

In February, students demonstrated after the death of a colleague in police custody, and five were killed. In April, soldiers rioted in the capital, looting businesses, hotels and the homes of government officials because they were unhappy over the prosecution of army comrades. Mr. Compaoré, a former army captain, dissolved his government and named the former editor of the state newspaper as prime minister. He did not, though, name any opposition figures to the new cabinet, and the unrest has continued.

Analysts say there is no obvious link between the various protesting groups in the country except general discontent. “They seem to be somewhat separate strands,” said one Western expert on the country, who asked not to be named so as not to jeopardize his current position. Everybody is angry at high prices, the expert said, “and almost nobody has confidence in the government. If the military stuff isn’t settled, everything else is up for grabs.”

The opposition has called for a large-scale demonstration in the capital on Saturday.

 

Curfew in Burkina Faso After President Dissolves Government

。 Scott Stearns | Ouagadougou ?April 16, 2011

Residents look at debris on the pavement on April 16, 2011 in Ouagadougou after soldiers from three barracks took to the streets of the Burkina Faso capital overnight, firing into the air and pillaging as a mutiny entered its third day

Burkina Faso's capital is under an overnight curfew after the president dissolved his government following an army mutiny.

President Blaise Compaore's government imposed the overnight curfew after merchants rioted because mutinous soldiers looted their shops.

The traders set fire to ruling party headquarters in the capital Ouagadougou Saturday and ransacked the National Assembly to protest what they say is the government's failure to stop mutinous soldiers from looting their stores.

President Compaore Friday dissolved his government and dismissed his army chief of staff and head of presidential security after soldiers at the presidential palace fired heavy weapons in the air demanding the payment of promised allowances. They then set fire to the home of President Compaore's chief of staff.

Tens of thousands of people Thursday marched in the capital to protest the high cost of living in demonstrations that were joined in at least ten other towns.

France is warning its citizens against travel to Burkina Faso, saying the situation is tense because of the soldiers' protest and warning that travelers face an increased risk of robbery and kidnapping.

Most stores in the capital were closed Saturday and few people were on the street well before the evening curfew.

President Compaore came to power in a 1987 coup against then-president Thomas Sankara. Mr. Compaore has been re-elected four times, most recently last November.