 |
| Endgame for Sankara's murderer: Burkinabés move against Blaise Compaore in a giant 1 million-match |
At last Burkinabés have been able to muster enough courage to move against their 'eternal' leader Blaise Compaore. Compaore, who led the coup d'état that overthrew Burkina Faso's visionary leader, Thomas Sankara, has ruled the country for 27 years. Burkinabés organised a massive rally against plans by Compaore to further extend his rule of the country. AFP reports that thousands of demonstrators with some wielding iron bars and stones battled police in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso capital on Tuesday.
Security forces firing tear gas, charged the protesters after they ventured close to the parliament in one of the strongest challenges to President Blaise Compaore. SInce the assasination of Sankara, Sankara with the backing of France has suppressed all oppositions until now.
The violence erupted at the end of a march in Ouagadougou that drew up to a million people, according to opposition leaders fighting to prevent what they see as a constitutional coup by supporters of Compaore.
AFP reports that the demonstrators blew whistles and vuvuzela trumpets and carried banners reading "Blaise Get Out!" and "Don't Touch Article 37", in reference to the constitutional term limit that risks being scrapped to let the president seek reelection.
Police battled the stone-throwing demonstrators for hours and dismantled makeshift barricades put up by them to block traffic.
The opposition has called for a blockade of parliament on Thursday when the legislature examines a proposed constitutional amendment to prolong Compaore's rule by allowing him to seek another term next year.
Pre-dawn violence had already broken out early Tuesday as gendarmes fired tear gas at dozens of youths barricading the country's main highway, who hurled stones in response, according to an AFP reporter.Schools and universities have closed for the week of protests planned in the impoverished west African nation.
Senior opposition figures Benewende Sankara and Ablasse Ouedraogo claimed a million-strong turnout. AFP reporters could not confirm that figure but estimated the crowd's number at well above a previous rally in August.
- 'This is our final warning' -
Several hundred people also occupied the Place de la Nation, a central square in the capital but later dispersed without incident.
"Our march is already a huge success, phenomenal," said opposition leader Zephirin Diabre. "Our struggle has entered its final phase. It's make or break time -- the nation or death!"
"This is our final warning for Blaise Compaore to withdraw today" the draft amendment to be brought before the National Assembly.
However, government spokesman Alain Edouard Traore late Tuesday issued a statement hailing the "vitality" of Burkina Faso's democracy despite incidents of what he quaintly termed as "misbehaviour"
Compaore was only 36 when he seized power in an October 1987 coup in which his former friend and one of Africa's most loved leaders, Thomas Sankara, was ousted and assassinated. Compaore was fingered to have carried out the assassination although he had always denied it.
He has remained in power since then, reelected president four times since 1991 -- to two seven-year and two five-year terms.
In 2005, constitutional limits were introduced and Compaore is therefore coming to the end of his second five-year term.
The opposition fears the new rules -- which are not expected to take previous terms into account -- would enable Compaore to seek reelection not just one, but three more times, paving the way for up to 15 more years in power.
The third largest party in parliament said at the weekend it would back the amendment, setting the ruling party on course to obtain the two-thirds majority it needs to make the change without resorting to a referendum as first promised.
Protesters have erected barricades and burned tyres in the capital since the proposal was announced on October 21, with hundreds of women demonstrating with spatulas in their hands and secondary school children deserting classes to join the protests, creating major disruption.
Civil society groups have also asked for the project to be dropped, saying the country risks being paralysed if the amendment goes through.
Compaore's bid to cling on to power has angered the opposition and much of the public, including many young people in a country where 60 percent of the population is under 25.
Many have spent their entire lives under the leadership of one man and -- with the poor former French colony stagnating at 183rd out of 186 countries on the UN human development index -- many have had enough.
