‘Successful political transition must be led by Civilians and Not Military’
The people of the West African State of Burkina Faso one of Africa’s smallest countries have risen to topple their totalitarian government led by Blaise Compaore for 27 years. Mr. Compaore took over power in 1987 after a bloody take over which killed one of Africa’s youngest and most promising leaders Captain Thomas Sankara. Compaore has since ruled his country with iron fist controlling every aspect of government. He won every election with almost over 80% of the votes which were a mere formality to disguise as a Democratic State.
The people rose against the government when the President attempted to use his rubber stamping parliament to amend the constitutional requirement of two Presidential term limits in which he has already served. He wanted the constitution to be changed to increase the term limit to three terms instead of two. Push too far to the limit and after enduring almost three decades of political oppression and suffering the mostly young people of this resource rich West African nation decided they had enough. Hundreds of thousands of people got to the streets on Wednesday and demanded the President to step down and allow peaceful political transition in the country. By Thursday more people took to the streets and stormed the National Assembly building and set it ablaze.
Taken by surprise on the people’s willingness to take matters into their own hands the country’s brutal dictator and his military could not believe what was happening in front of their eyes. By midday some security forces were seen mingling with protesters and while a more loyal section of the police and military confronted the protesters with tear gas and open fired on the demonstrators killing as many as six people. Despite this attempt by the military to crack down and disperse the protesters, soon it became evident the people were determined to overrun the Presidential Palace and other government buildings. The President went into hiding and tried desperately to mobilize his security forces to retake the streets and restore calm.
One thing was all but evident that the brutal reign of almost three decades of mahen on the people of this tiny country by Blaise Compaore was over. The military sensing defeat also quickly rallied behind the protesters and announced that they were taking over and dissolving parliament and suspending the constitution. They announced that the military will form a transitional government for one year before conducting elections. The new head of the military is Gen Honore Traore who announced the imposition of emergency measures and an overnight curfew. He declared that a transition government within a period of twelve months will be in place in consultation with all political parties.
It may be interesting to briefly learn that Burkina Faso have had series of rough political turmoil witnessing several military coups couple with history of civil society protests since its Independence from France in 1960. The country experienced seven military leaders including one that brought Captain Thomas Sankara one of Africa’s most popular young leaders to power when he was initially appointed as Prime Minister in 1983 and later he staged a military coup in 1984. Sankara’s rule came in the middle of the Cold War and was caught in the middle between Soviet Union and Western powers. He stroked a strong relationship with the Russia and the Soveit Union making him not the most favorable leader of Africa. Sankara however, was a model leader in Africa and fought for his country and Africa to be free from colonial domination. Current erstwhile President Compaore was a close colleague of Thomas Sankara but led a coup which killed Sankara and twelve others. He has since ruled Burkina Faso with iron fist and was known to be a puppet of Western governments playing regional peace maker while his country continue to be at the bottom of the economic ladder despite their rich resources in Gold, manganese, limestone, marble, phosphates, pumice and salt. He continued to clinch on to power until he was forced out of office.
One great lesson is worth learning from current events in Burkina faso, unlike many other military interventions in the country’s history, this revolution was initiated and driven by the ordinary people of Burkina Faso especially the youths. It must be acknowledged that this is not a military intervention as much as they would like to take the credit and impose a new transition government. In fact the Military and security forces in the country are the very reason why President Compaore was able to stay in power for this long. While the military would like to impose a transition government, the International community and the people of this great nation must be mindful of the history of military take overs in Africa. Any power transitions that last more than six to eight months will risk having another military turned civilian perpetuate themselves in power. Therefore, the transition must preferably be led by a civilian leader to guarantee a smooth transition. African military has a poor history of transitioning power once they taste the high office. This uprising by the brave people of Burkina Faso a nation with 17.3 Million should serve as a lesson to other African leaders. The message should be clear that the people can only be taking for a ride for so long. That when pushed to the limit, they will revolve and reclaim their constitutional rights. For now other African dictators like the Gambian President must learn from this lesson or his fate will equally be decided by the power of the people. The people of Burkina makes Africa proud and every decent African true advocates of Democracy must stand by the people…
By Demba Baldeh