– Departure ‘non-negotiable’ –
Burkina Faso’s army chief had on Thursday made his own announcement that the government had been dissolved.
The army imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew and pledged to restore constitutional order within 12 months, in a statement signed by Nabere Honore Traore Thursday.
Leading opposition politician Benewende Sankara described the army’s move as a “coup”.
Many of the tens of thousands massed on the streets of the capital called for retired general and former defence minister Kouame Lougue to take control, shouting: “Lougue in power!”
There were reports that Traore had met Lougue to discuss the crisis.
Opposition leaders gave the death toll from Thursday’s violence as “around 30”. AFP was only able to confirm four deaths and six seriously injured, based partly on reports from the capital’s main hospital.
Envoys from the UN, the African Union and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) were expected Friday in Burkina.
Known in colonial times as Upper Volta, the landlocked country became independent from France in 1960 and its name was changed to Burkina Faso (“the land of upright men”) in 1984.
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