The military in Burkina Faso has declared that it controls the country, confirming that a coup has taken place just weeks before elections.
The announcement, aired on national television and radio, said the transitional government was dissolved and the interim president was no longer in power.
A curfew was declared and borders were closed. Heavy gunfire was heard in the main square of the capital, Ouagadougou, on Thursday morning after protesters poured into the streets to denounce the actions of the coup leaders, who are members of the elite presidential guard unit.
The elite guard, who had disagreed publicly with the transitional government in recent months, identified themselves as the National Council for Democracy and said they had taken control from a “deviant regime”.
The fate of the interim president, Michel Kafando, and the prime minister, Isaac Zida, who were both arrested after troops stormed into a cabinet meeting, was unclear.
Interim parliament speaker, Cheriff Sy, urged the masses to immediately rise up to protest against what he told Radio France International was clearly a coup.
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