Africa highlights: Burkina Faso coup

Africa Live Page reader Ian Maddieson (from the Department of Linguistics at the University of New Mexico) has written to us at africalive@bbc.co.uk to elaborate on our earlier post at 17:48 about a satirical cartoon, poking fun at the coup leaders in Burkina Faso.

"The joke... is not only that BF has no coastline, but that the Lt-Col spokesman makes up new words to describe the air and sea frontiers based on the real word 'terrestres' but which rhyme with that word," he says.

"This wordplay by the cartoonist is really clever and subtly suggests that the presidential guard might be a little lacking in education!"

Reuters journalist Joe Penney, who has reported for years in West Africa, has tweeted his assessment of the situation for Gen Gilbert Diendere and the rest of the presidential guard (RSP) behind today's coup:

Burkina Faso is now the country with the highest number of successful coups in Africa, according to US-based academic Jonathan Powell. 

His research shows that these are the African nations that have had the most coups:

• Burkina Faso - seven 
• Benin, Nigeria and Niger – six 
• Ghana - five.

Of course, there have been many failed putsches:

• Sudan - 14 attempts, only four were successful
• Comoros - nine attempts, only four successful.

The statistics have caused some debate on Twitter about what constitutes a coup and what qualifies one as an “attempted” or “successful” one.

Many of you have been getting in touch on the BBC Africa Facebook page about today's coup in Burkina Faso:

Godwin K Seglah Jr. says:

"Whilst other continents are working on how to improve their economy, development and infrastructure, African countries are still thinking about coups. I think it is time the UN, AU and Ecowas put some procedures in order. The constitution must work."

Dela Amekudzi says: "The Burkina Faso army is a disappointment and a disgrace to the African continent. They are not the only country in Africa with armed forces. Use the ballot box if you need change, and stop these shameful military takeovers."

Adam Dorley says: "The African Union should not recognise this government, they should demand that power is returned over to the transitional government immediately."

John Van Dyke says: "Power struggles aside, my hope is that something like a representative government can emerge. No more African dictators who loot the coffers please. Africa is still reeling from the ravages of colonialism. Just as the French took everything for France, the succession of self-abusing dictators continue to ravage that incredible continent."

The European Union has allocated 1.8bn euros ($2bn, £1.3bn) for a proposed Emergency Trust Fund for Africa.

The idea is to promote economic opportunities, stability and development, and address the root causes of migration.

Twenty-three countries are to benefit from the fund, from West Africa, the Horn of Africa and North Africa.

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Read their full statement here.

The main hospital in Burkina Faso's capital, Ouagadougou, has been taking in people with bullet wounds from the unrest following today's coup, local media reports.

Administrators at the Yalgado hospital are asking that anyone with medical skills who can help treat the injured, should go to the hospital, local news site Burkina24 says on its Facebook page.

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People in southern Somalia say wildlife is returning to the country after more than two decades.

They say they have spotted elephants, lions, giraffe and ostriches.

The animals are believed to have crossed over from Kenya where the military is trying to flush out the Islamist group al-Shabab from a forest near the border.

"We used to see this kind of animals long ago and they are now crossing back to the border. They are coming back from Kenya and we welcome them very much," Farah Haybe, former commissioner of Badhadhe town, told the BBC Somali Service.

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The authorities say they have now told butchers not to kill or sell the meat of wild animals.

Former Nigeria captain Daniel Amokachi (pictured below) has quit as manager of Nigerian top-flight side FC IfeanyiUbah only five weeks after he was appointed.

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Read the BBC Sport story for more.

A newspaper cartoonist in Burkina Faso has been poking fun at the leaders of today's coup.

 In the cartoon below he depicts the man who announced the coup on state TV.

The speech bubble (translated from French) reads: 

"We announce the immediate closure of land, air and sea borders."

The joke? Burkina Faso is landlocked and has no coast:

Burundi's prosecutor general, Valentin Bagorikunda, says he is preparing to put on trial more than 700 people accused of involvement in an insurgency movement.

Those to be put on trial were allegedly involved in protests which erupted after President Pierre Nkurunziza decided to run for a third term in office.

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The prosecutor general said the protesters had caused more than $30m (£19m) worth of damage.

Hundreds of people have since been arrested. Many more are still wanted, including leaders of political parties and civil society who have fled the country.

The violence is continuing in Burundi, mainly in the form of targeted killings.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon demands "restraint" from the troops who have staged the coup in Burkina Faso, the AFP news agency reports.

The BBC's Steve Vickers in Brazzaville says the African Games are into their final days in the Congolese capital.

He snapped these female wrestlers at the Massamba Debat Hall today:

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Tonight the athletics events end, the football and basketball finals are tomorrow and wrestling, taekwondo, handball and table tennis will wrap up by Saturday.

Carlos Correia has just been confirmed as new prime minister of Guinea-Bissau in a presidential decree.

His name was proposed by the ruling party PAIGC. See our 10.21 post about the latest political crisis to hit the coup-prone country.

The capital of Burkina Faso is in shutdown - everything is closed from the main markets to petrol stations.

Tyres are burning in the streets and barricades have been erected, and throughout the day there has been sporadic shooting.

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Members of the presidential guard, who are behind the coup, have been firing into the air to disperse crowds.

But small numbers of protesters are trying to gather.

When the soldiers shoot, the crowd breaks up but gathers again.

Civil society groups are saying that at least 20 people have been injured and several have died in the violence so far.

These groups have also called for mass protests, which are likely to happen in the coming days.

The situation could escalate as people are promising not to back down.

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At least seven people have died after severe flooding in Sierra Leone's capital Freetown, according to officials quoted by AFP news agency.

Africa Live page reader Hans Jonker sent these photos to our inbox africalive@bbc.co.uk. He says they were taken yesterday in Freetown by his friend Momo Conteh, who works for a charity based in Sierra Leone.

Momo ContehCopyright: Momo Conteh

Momo ContehCopyright: Momo Conteh

The government of Sierra Leone ordered people to stay at home on Thursday because more heavy rain was forecast, but the BBC's Umaru Fofana says the order has been largely ignored.

The BBC's Lamine Konkobo looks at the issues behind the coup in Burkina Faso, where members of the presidential guard (RSP) have overthrown the interim government.

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He says what is really bothering the RSP is its future. Soldiers were worried that the election of a new president - in elections due in October - would spell the end of the unit.

Read more from Lamine in his piece Who is behind the Burkina Faso coup?

Cholera is spreading through camps in the north-eastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri where people displaced by Boko Haram are sheltering, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) says.

Since the first case of cholera appeared a month ago, the disease has spread to three camps and 16 people have died, the medical charity says.

More than two million people have fled their homes during the six-year insurgency by the Islamist militant group.

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A journalist with Internews has been tweeting photos from Burkina Faso's capital, Ouagadougou. 

The first tweet reads (translated from French): "The population in Ouaga is very angry. There are more and more barricades in the city".

The text of the second tweet reads: "Many deaths from gunfire in Ouaga among the civilian population. Bullet cases retrieved here and there."

Burkina Faso's coup leader, the former chief-of-staff for ex-President Blaise Compaore, has told France 24 television he had had no contact with the veteran leader, who was ousted last year and fled to Ivory Coast, Reuters news agency reports.

"I have had no contact with him, before or after," said Gilbert Diendere in response to a question on whether Mr Compaore was involved in the coup, adding he had the full support of the army, Reuters adds.

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An oil tanker which exploded in South Sudan has killed 176 people, Wilson Thomas Yanga, the county commissioner of Maridi, has told the BBC's Focus on Africa radio programme.

People rushed to collect fuel from the vehicle after it overturned near the town of Maridi in Western Equatoria state.

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Ahmed Omar Isma'il, a Somali truck driver, was driving on the road when the accident happened on Wednesday.

"We saw a huge smoke about 5km [three miles] from the scene," he told the BBC Somali Service.

"We drove closer and we saw the tanker on fire. The explosion affected a big area. We were also met by people who were wounded. We saw many dead bodies."

"I assisted… We drove back to the nearest town where more people succumbed to their injuries."

Read the BBC News story for more

The speaker of Burkina Faso's transitional parliament, Cherif Sy, has declared himself president of the country, local media is reporting, quoting an interview Mr Sy gave to Radio France Internationale. 

It would mean that there are now two men from different groups both claiming to be head of state:

1. Gen Gilbert Diendere , named as head of the presidential guard group, which announced earlier it had seized power in a coup. He was a close ally of ex-President Blaise Compaore.  

2.  Cherif Sy , who reportedly said he was taking on devolved power as head of state following the arrest of both the interim president and prime minister by the coup leaders. 

Local media outlet Radio Omega tweeted the section of Mr Sy's interview where he reportedly called for action from the country's regular armed forces (translated from French): 

"I invite the heads of the national army to take all steps to stop this abuse of power". 

Lupita Nyong'o has just posted the cover of October's Vogue magazine, which features the Kenyan Oscar-winning actress for the second time:

The Associated Press has filed these shots from Burkina Faso's capital of some protesters angered by the coup:

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It says these demonstrators have loaded a catapult:

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Now for those of you fancying a tea break, take your cue from this goat in Somalia.

Mohamed Jabra, a photo journalist in Gaalkayo, in Somalia's north-eastern Puntland region, says after dinner last night he went to an outdoor teashop with a friend and ordered two cups of tea.

"All of sudden a little goat came to us and tried to drink my cup of tea," he told the BBC.

Mohamed JabraCopyright: Mohamed Jabra

"I tried to stop it but it was adamant to have it and eventually I had to leave it to drink it."

Mohamed JabraCopyright: Mohamed Jabra

He said that the goat drank it quickly, even though the tea was very hot.

"I had to console myself with the fact that the tea had some goat's milk in it, so the little goat had every right to claim it for herself."

Mohamed JabraCopyright: Mohamed Jabra

Here are some of the latest photos from Burkina Faso following the coup announcement showing troops from the presidential guard (RSP) on patrol in the capital:

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These RSP soldiers are standing guard near the main revolutionary square in Ouagadougou where shots were fired to disperse protesters earlier:

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You may have noticed that most tweets about the coup today in Burkina Faso are accompanied by the hashtag #lwili.

BBC Africa's Leone Ouedraogo, who is from Burkina Faso, says it is a word in the Moore language, which is widely spoken in the West African nation, and means "little bird".

The hashtag has nothing to do with the political crisis and is used by Burkinabes when discussing news to do with Burkina Faso on social media.

Lwili may have been chosen to reflect Twitter's logo.

TwitterCopyright: Twitter

The BBC's Sierra Leone reporter says the call for people to remain at home because more heavy rains are expected is not being heeded - and people and vehicles are out on the streets.

He tweeted this photo from the National Stadium in the capital where those made homeless by the floods are seeking refuge:

Burkina Faso's deposed interim leaders, President Michel Kafando and Prime Minister Isaac Zida, who were arrested on Wednesday, are in good health and will be released soon, coup leader General Gilbert Diendere has told French magazine Jeune Afrique.

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The population of the Gambia has lived in a climate of fear since President Yahya Jammeh came to power in 1994, a report from Human Rights Watch says.

In the 81-page report, entitled State of Fear, the US-backed campaign group documents cases of alleged torture that include near-suffocation, severe beating, electroshocks and sexual abuse among other brutal methods.

Almost all victims interviewed said they were tortured at the intelligence services' headquarters.

A special unit known as the "jungulers" and taking direct orders from the president would be responsible for most abuses as well as murders and forced disappearances, the report said.

This, along with economic factors, was fuelling migration, it said.

"Gambia may be (mainland) Africa's smallest country but it also accounts for a growing number of people in the current migration crisis gripping Europe."

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Balai Citoyen, an influential civil society group in Burkina Faso, has said on its Facebook page that more than 10 people have been killed by members of the presidential guard following today's coup.

The information has not been independently verified.

The group has heavily criticised the coup leaders and has called for the country's armed forces to "assume their historic responsibility in the face of armed aggression against the Burkinabe people and its institutions".

It is also calling for popular resistance against the coup leaders from the elite presidential guard, saying that this is the fourth time that they have tried to undermine the country's interim government since the overthrow of veteran leader Blaise Compaore in a popular uprising last October.

Balai CitoyenCopyright: Balai Citoyen

The BBC's Yacouba Ouedraogo in Burkina Faso's capital, Ouagadougou, has just tweeted this photo of some people taking to the streets of the city to protest about today's coup:

Yacouba OuedraogoCopyright: Yacouba Ouedraogo

French President Francois Hollande has condemned the coup Burkina Faso, a former colony of France.

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He called on those involved to "immediately stop what they are doing, the AFP news agency reports.

But he added that the 220 French troops currently based in the capital, Ouagadougou, "have no reason to intervene".

South Sudan's Radio Miraya, which is funded by the United Nations, is reporting that 170 people have died in a fuel tanker fire.

The truck loaded with petrol overturned yesterday and crowds rushed to collect the fuel in Maridi County in Western Equatoria state, it reports.

Western Equatoria governor, Patrick Raphael Zamoi, told the radio station that the state was not capable of handling the high numbers of the injured and appealed to the Red Cross and the UN for help.

A local journalist has tweeted this photo of an injured man at the main hospital in Ouagadougou:

An image of one protester, who people are saying was killed in the unrest following the announcement of the coup, has also been circulating on social media.   

Burkina Faso's presidential guard (RSP) has been trained - in part by the US - and equipped to be the most powerful group in the country.

Two steps taken by the transitional authorities may have contributed to today's coup:

• Preventing politicians loyal to former President Blaise Compaore from running in next month's elections
• Allowing the release of a report by the Reconciliation Commission that called for the presidential guard to be disbanded, so close to elections planned for next month. Some argue that a newly elected president would have had a more legitimate position to draw up such a plan.

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Ever since Mr Compaore was forced to resign last year, this elite unit - considered loyal to him - has remained the country's main problem.

Its members have tried to disrupt interim institutions several times this year to avoid losing their privileged status by being integrated into the army.

They have now seized power but they are not popular. This is a recipe for potential fighting and serious violence.

When Colonel Mamadou Bamba (pictured below), from Burkina Faso's presidential guard, appeared on television to announce a coup he said that the elite unit wanted to put an end to the rule of a "deviant regime".

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The new electoral laws that barred candidates linked to former President Blaise Compaore from running for office in the elections in October were not democratic, he said.

"That law has created division and a grave frustration within the people, erecting two categories of citizens."

General Gilbert Diendere, the man who has now been named as the head of the country's transitional authority, was a close aide to Mr Compaore.

Africa analyst Imad Mesdoua has tweeted this photo of the man named leader of the CND, the group which has led the coup in Burkina Faso:

Journalist tweets from Burkina Faso's capital, Ouagadougou, where the presidential guard (RSP) has dissolved the interim government:

The president of the transitional parliament in Burkina Faso, Cherif Sy (pictured below), says people will not accept a military coup.

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"We cannot accept this situation and our people cannot accept it," he told BBC Afrique.

"Since last night, people have been protesting against it. Throughout Burkina, people are protesting."

The presidential guard has said it has taken over power in Burkina Faso.

Here are seven things you may not know about the landlocked West African country:

• It is renowned for its film festival Fespaco, held every two years in Ouagadougou
• A former French colony, it gained independence as Upper Volta in 1960
• Capt Thomas Sankara seized power in 1983 and adopted radical left-wing policies - he is often referred to as "Africa's Che Guevara"

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• The anti-imperialist revolutionary renamed the country Burkina Faso, which translates as "land of honest men"
• People in Burkina Faso, known as Burkinabes, love riding motor scooters

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• Blaise Compaore took power in the coup that killed Sankara, and ruled for 27 years until a popular uprising in 2014
• It is one of the world's poorest countries - its main export is cotton

Read more about Burkina Faso in our country profile

And read the BBC analysis piece How Blaise Compaore sparked his own downfall

The group leading the coup in Burkina Faso, calling itself the National Council for Democracy (CND) has named Brigadier General Gilbert Diendere, former army chief of staff for President Blaise Compaore, as its leader, local media report, quoting a statement from the CND.

The statement (translated from French) adds:

"This new strong-man of the country has declared the closure of land and air borders until further notice, and declares a curfew from 19:00 to 06:00 including for today 17 September."

Burkina24.comCopyright: Burkina24.com

A statement from leaders of a coup in Burkina Faso has been circulating on local media.

The group is now calling itself the National Council for Democracy (CND).

Here are a few extracts:

• People of Burkina Faso, patriots and friends of democracy, the principal aim of the CND's intervention is to start off a coherent, just and equal process which will lead to the implementation of a robust institutional system
• Anchored by the key principles of democracy such as political equality before the law, free political expression and transition of power, this system will be the foundation for the shared socio-economic development of Burkina Faso...
• A full dialogue is ongoing to form a government which will devote itself to the re-establishment of political order in the country and the restoration of national unity leading to inclusive and peaceful elections
• The CND would like to reassure the regional and international community, and development partners, of its determination to respect the agreements the country is signed up to
• People of Burkina Faso, the CND calls for all Burkinabe citizens to actively support, with a great spirit of tolerance and solidarity, the process of political reconstruction in a clam, disciplined and hard-working manner.

lefaso.netCopyright: lefaso.net

Read the full statement here (in French)

Burkina's Faso's presidential guard (RSP) is seen as loyal to the West African country's long-serving President Blaise Compaore, who resigned following mass demonstrations last year.

A member of the presidential guard spoke on state TV on behalf of what he called the "National Council for Democracy", a self-proclaimed body that the RSP says in now in charge.

Just under a month before elections were supposed to be held, he announced that interim President Michel Kafondo had been ousted and his government dissolved.

But the RSP is an elite military unit which will find very little support on the streets given that it is considered close to Mr Compaore - now in exile.

Seizing power is a very dangerous move that could lead Burkina Faso into serious violence.

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Carlos Correia could become the new prime minister of Guinea-Bissau after the ruling party submitted his name to the president.

The country has been functioning without a government for more than a month after Domingos Pereira and the rest of the cabinet was sacked from the post last month.

President Jose Mario Vaz (pictured below) had argued that his decision resulted from a serious crisis of trust.

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Both men, who belong to the ruling PAIGC party, have been at loggerheads over reforms.

The Supreme Court rejected the president's preferred candidate and forced him to resign.

The regional bloc Ecowas sent a mediator, ex-Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, to help solve the crisis.

Ecowas members also decided a few days ago to extend their peacekeeping mission, aimed at bringing stability to the coup-prone country, until June 2016.

A journalist in Burkina Faso's capital Ouagadougou tweets (translated from French): "Gunfire resumes in the city centre". 

There has been heavy shooting in Burkina Faso's capital to disperse a crowd gathered in the revolutionary square to protest against an apparent seizure of power by the presidential guard (RSP), the BBC's Yacouba Ouedraogo reports from the city.

A witness told the Reuters news agency that more than 100 people had gathered in the square by around 07:00 GMT to demand the release of the interim government, detained by the elite military unit.

Elections are due on 11 October so that power can be handed over to a new government.

Long-serving ruler Blaise Compaore was ousted in a popular uprising last year.

A stay-at-home order has been given in Sierra Leone with six days of monsoon rain forecast.

Four people have been killed in the floods so far in the floods in the capital, Freetown, the government has said.

The National Stadium in the city has been opened to accommodate thousands of displaced people.

The main operating theatre at Freetown's Connaught hospital has been flooded, so there will be no surgeries there until further notice.

However, the sun is out this morning - so people are hoping the forecasters may have got it wrong:

Umaru FofanaCopyright: Umaru Fofana

A photograph of one of the officers from Burkina Faso's presidential guard (RSP), announcing the dissolution of the interim government on state TV, is being shared on social media:

Nearly 700 million cases of malaria have been prevented in Africa as a result of concerted efforts to tackle the disease since 2000, a study shows.

The report published in the journal Nature showed that overall the number of infections fell by 50% across the continent.

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Bed nets were responsible for the vast majority of the decrease.

There have also been calls to maintain funding to ensure the progress is not undone.

For more, read the BBC News story.

Mozambique has removed its last known landmine after two decades of work to get rid of the explosives.

Close to 171,000 landmines were removed, according to the Halo Trust, a British charity that led the clearance.

The landmines were left after a long fight for independence followed by a civil war. Many were planted up until the 1990s.

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The charity says it is the first large mine-contaminated country to be completely cleared of mines.

For more on the story and from our correspondent Karen Allen in Mozambique, click here.

Burkina Faso's transitional government has been dissolved by the presidential guard (RSP).

A member of the RSP has appeared on state TV and announced that all transitional institutions have been dissolved.

It is the first announcement by the RSP since they seized the interim President Michel Kafando and Prime Minister Isaac Zida at a cabinet meeting at the presidential palace in the capital, Ouagadougou.

So it looks like this is a coup.

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The move comes two days after a commission recommended the disbanding of the RSP.

Violent mass protests that included setting parliament on fire forced long-serving Mr Compaore out of office in October 2014.

Today's African proverb: Even if a hen is very poor, it will not lay black eggs. Sent by Anhiem Mayhan Makeer in Juba, South Sudan.

Click here to send your African proverbs.

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