Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
BF: …STIR SLOWLY OVER A LOW HEAT…… (An update from Burkina Faso)
So at the end of the day yesterday, the negotiating team gleefully announced that a breakthrough had happened. Dienderé had agreed to hand back power to Kifendo in exchange for a few concessions. In addition to amnesty for the coup, he wanted CDP members to be able to run, and for the status of the RSP to be determined by the new leader. Also, Zida has to be removed from the government as he is military.
Everyone was quite happy about the reinstatement of Kifendo at first, but soon there was an upswell of popular anger about the terms. If the CDP can run, then who is to say that they won’t steal the election, and the hated RSP gets preserved? And suddenly Burkina doesn’t have the ‘civilian government’ that they have craved since their very first leader. Also, Kifendo said he was never consulted on the terms and would never have agreed to let the RSP continue until after the elections.
So today, one of the negotiating ambassadors told Dienderé that the public would not accept his terms. Kifendo is still President, Diendre is a traitor and he needs to dissolve the RSP now. If he refuses to, then any fallout from their presence is on his head.
Then to make THEIR position known, about 20 members of the RSP destroyed the state-owned communications equipment and took the entire country’s ADSL service offline. This overwhelmed the 3G networks, so digital communication has been spotty at best, nonexistent for the most part. Only dedicated satellite networks have been mostly immune, but rumors are that the RSP has the ability to jam them.
https://myronbuck.wordpress.com/2015/09/21/bf-stir-slowly-over-a-low-heat/
Everyone was quite happy about the reinstatement of Kifendo at first, but soon there was an upswell of popular anger about the terms. If the CDP can run, then who is to say that they won’t steal the election, and the hated RSP gets preserved? And suddenly Burkina doesn’t have the ‘civilian government’ that they have craved since their very first leader. Also, Kifendo said he was never consulted on the terms and would never have agreed to let the RSP continue until after the elections.
So today, one of the negotiating ambassadors told Dienderé that the public would not accept his terms. Kifendo is still President, Diendre is a traitor and he needs to dissolve the RSP now. If he refuses to, then any fallout from their presence is on his head.
Then to make THEIR position known, about 20 members of the RSP destroyed the state-owned communications equipment and took the entire country’s ADSL service offline. This overwhelmed the 3G networks, so digital communication has been spotty at best, nonexistent for the most part. Only dedicated satellite networks have been mostly immune, but rumors are that the RSP has the ability to jam them.
https://myronbuck.wordpress.com/2015/09/21/bf-stir-slowly-over-a-low-heat/
This is a blog from a friend of mine who is an American educator. He began a new job in Ouagadougou a few weeks before the coup.
He's doing well, and it's very informative and up to date.
