Burkina Faso’s interim President, Michel Kafando, who was taken hostage during a coup a week ago, said on Wednesday he was back in power and had restored a civilian transitional government.
“I have returned to work,” Reuters quoted Kafando as saying in a brief speech to journalists at the foreign ministry in the capital.
“The transition is back and at this very minute is exercising the power of the state.”
Burkina Faso will reinstate an interim government led by President Michel Kafando, Benin’s leader Thomas Boni Yayi said on Saturday, in what would be a victory for the street over army coup leaders.
Seeking to end violent clashes between soldiers and protesters and salvage an October presidential election, African mediators held talks with junta head Gen. Gilbert Diendere, Reuters reported.
“We may hope again,” Reuters quoted Boni Yayi as saying to reporters after a third round of talks with Diendere.
“We are going to relaunch the transition that was underway – a transition led by civilians, with Michel Kafando,” he added, saying that more details of the “good news” would be provided on Sunday.
Senegal’s President Macky Sall, who is also mediating in the crisis as head of regional bloc ECOWAS, did not comment after the talks. His office earlier confirmed he was seeking to broker Kafando’s return to power.
It was not clear if the alleged deal included amnesty for Diendere, a shadowy general who served as a spy chief under ousted President Blaise Compaore.
Nor was it clear if the election schedule could be restored.
Diendere did not deny that an initial agreement had been reached. “I always said that I will not cling to power. It’s now a question of terms,” he told reporters after the meeting.
The military junta in Burkina Faso that took power in a coup has freed interim President, Michel Kafando and two of his ministers from detention, the junta’s leader said on Friday, as security forces fired in the air to quell protests.
The decision to free Kafando appeared to signal possible flexibility by Gen. Gilbert Diendere and the junta ahead of talks on Friday with Senegalese President Macky Sall, current chairman of the West African ECOWAS bloc, Reuters reported.
Sall and Benin President Thomas Boni Yayi are due to mediate in the wake of Thursday’s coup that was condemned by the United States, former colonial power France and the United Nations, which demanded the resumption of a democratic transition.
“I confirm that President Kafando has been freed. He is in good health,” Diendere told journalists, adding that interim Prime Minister, Yacouba Isaac Zida, was under house arrest.
The takeover derailed a transition that started last October after street protests toppled President Blaise Compaore after 27 years in power and was due to lead to elections on October 11.
That uprising became a beacon for democratic aspirations in Africa at a time when long-term and authoritarian rulers from Rwanda to Congo Republic are seeking to scrap term limits.
Diendere was Compaore’s military advisor and he said the putsch was triggered by a transitional government proposal to dismantle the presidential guard and a fear of instability after Compaore’s supporters were barred from contesting elections.
Security forces in Ouagadougou fired in the air on Friday to disperse demonstrators who burnt tyres and blocked neighbourhood streets on a second day of protests against the coup. At least three died and 60 were wounded on Thursday.
Burkina Faso’s interim president, Michel Kafando, has been stripped of his functions and the government dissolved, a military official said on state-run RTB Television on Thursday.
“We have put in place a national democracy council tasked with organising democratic and inclusive elections,” Reuters quoted an unidentified military official as saying in the broadcast.
Political and military leaders in Burkina Faso have chosen a former foreign minister, Michel Kafando, to be the country’s interim president.
The move follows the signing of a charter on Sunday mapping out a year-long transition to elections.
Mr Kafando was one of four possible candidates for the post, including two journalists and an academic.
The army took power after President Blaise Compaore was forced to resign on 31 October during mass protests.
Lt Col Isaac Zida, who declared himself head of the West African state, has pledged to hand over power to a civilian authority.
The transitional charter will see an interim legislative chamber and a transitional leader installed until elections are organised next year.
Mr Kafando, 72, was chosen by a special panel composed of religious, military, political, civil and traditional leaders.
Negotiations in the capital Ouagadougou continued into the early hours of yesterday morning.
Mr Kafando’s first task will be to name a prime minister who will appoint a 25-member government.
Mr Kafando, a former foreign minister and previously Burkina Faso’s ambassador to the United Nations, will be barred from standing at the next election.
International bodies have threatened sanctions unless civilian rule is restored in Burkina Faso.
Col Zida’s attempts to suspend the constitution and crack down on dissent sparked fresh unrest late last month.
In a communique on Saturday, Col Zida said the constitution was back in force in order to “allow the start of the establishment of a civilian transition”.
Mr Compaore first seized power in a coup in 1987 and went on to win four disputed elections.
Tens of thousands of people protested in Ouagadougou in October against moves to allow him to extend his rule.
Authorities in Burkina Faso named former foreign minister Michel Kafando as transitional president on Monday in a key step towards returning the West African country to democracy in the wake of a brief military takeover.
Kafando was chosen as part of a charter hammered out after long time President Blaise Compaore was toppled on October 31 following mass protests, only to be replaced a day later by Lt. Col. Isaac Zida.
He will name a prime minister to appoint a 25-member government, but will be barred from standing at elections planned for late next year, Reuters says.
“The committee has just designated me to guide temporarily the destiny of our country. This is more than an honour. It’s a true mission which I will take with the utmost seriousness,” Kafando told journalists and a 23-strong committee.
The committee, drawn from the army, traditional and religious groups, civil society and the political opposition, selected him from among five candidates after a closed-door meeting that began on Sunday and went into the early hours, witnesses said.
The African Union gave Zida two weeks to re-establish civilian rule or face sanctions and on Saturday he restored the constitution suspended when Compaore was overthrown.
Compaore was a regional power broker and a Western ally against Islamist militants, but many opposed his efforts to change the constitution that would have allowed him to stand for re-election next year and extend his 27-year rule.
Kafando, 72, was also ambassador of the former French colony at the United Nations and for one year president of the Security Council, one of several senior posts he held during Compaore’s presidency. His candidacy was proposed by the army.