Burkina Faso’s military has overthrown the interim government in a coup that has plunged the capital city, Ouagadougou, into panic. It happened just three weeks before the country was due to hold general elections. General Gilbert Diendere has been declared the country’s new leader. Burkina Faso is not an exception in Africa. The continent has seen at least 200 successful or failed coups since the 1960s. Some thought the continent had begun to shake off its reputation for military takeovers – especially after the democratic changes of the 1990s. So, why are coups so common in some parts of Africa?…
Author: AMA
The military in Burkina Faso has taken to the airwaves to declare it now controls the country, confirming that a coup has taken place – just weeks before national elections. In the announcement aired early on Thursday on national television and radio, the statement said that the transitional government had been dissolved. The statement came a day after members of the elite presidential guard unit of the military arrested the transitional president and prime minister. Fanny Noaro, a journalist based in the capital Ouagadougou, told Al Jazeera gunfire could be heard on the streets of the city. “There is a…
Seven senior political figures have been expelled from the Democratic Republic of Congo’s ruling coalition for signing a letter urging President Joseph Kabila not to cling to power after his term expires next year, government officials have said. The planning minister was also sacked from his post later on Wednesday on an order from the president, as was another longtime ally of Kabila whose party signed the letter. In Monday’s letter to Kabila, the leaders of the G7, a group of parties within the coalition, demanded immediate steps to ensure a presidential election scheduled for November 2016 was held on…
Zimbabwean politicians have been recalled for a special sitting a day after President Robert Mugabe delivered the wrong speech at the opening session of parliament. The government-owned Herald newspaper said all parliamentarians were required to attend Wednesday afternoon’s session called by Mugabe. The 91-year-old leader on Tuesday gave the same speech he delivered at a state of the nation address in August. The Herald and other state-owned media outlets later published the intended speech, which announced restrictions on imports, land reforms and measures to protect employees from unfair dismissal. Common mistake The newspaper’s editor, Tichaona Zindoga, defended the mix-up in…
Soldiers have detained Burkina Faso’s transitional president, prime minister and an unknown number of cabinet members, raising fears of a coup. Members of the military showed up at the presidential offices on Wednesday afternoon and barred the transitional leaders from leaving, Achille Tapsoba, who works at the presidency, told the Associated Press news agency. The raid comes weeks before the country is due to hold elections to replace its longtime leader who was ousted in a popular uprising late last year. Interim president Michel Kafando and Lieutenant Colonel Yacouba Isaac Zida, the interim prime minister, were tasked with organising the…
Violent clashes have broke out in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), after an opposition rally was attacked by unidentified youths hurling stones, sparking a lynching attempt and a police crackdown. Up to 3,000 people had gathered in a southern area of the DR Congo capital to oppose any bid by President Joseph Kabila to seek a third term in elections due at the end of next year, said a journalist from the AFP news agency at the scene. Kabila, in office since 2001, is constitutionally ineligible for next year’s poll as he nears the end…
Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe has delivered the wrong speech at the opening of a new session of parliament, repeating an address he gave to the legislature last month. The 91-year-old leader read the 25-minute-long speech through to the end on Tuesday, apparently unaware that he was delivering the same text he presented during his state of the nation address last month. “There has been a mix-up of speeches resulting in a situation where… the president delivered the wrong speech,” said presidential spokesman George Charamba. “The mix-up happened in his secretarial office,” Charamba was quoted as saying in the state-owned Herald…
Bukavu, DR Congo – Inside a small wooden house overlooking the massive Virunga National Park, Bakazi Ndazimo, 70, relives the worst day of her life – the day she stopped feeling human; the day she was beaten and raped. “The only reason I am able to talk about this is because of my age, and the fact that I am not going to remarry,” Ndazimo told Al Jazeera. The attack happened in late November 2012, just after the M23 militia took control over Sake, Ndazimo’s hometown, situated 27km west of Goma in the eastern province of North Kivu. She was…
Cameroon striker Albert Ebosse died over a year ago after a domestic football league match in Algeria. He was hit on the head by an object thrown from the crowd as the teams walked back towards the tunnel. The Algerian league was suspended. But 12 months on, his family is still looking for answers. A very promising footballer on the brink of a move to Europe and a call-up to the national team, Ebosse’s career was on a roll. The striker’s 20 goals in 36 appearances for Algerian club JS Kabylie (JSK) had forced his name in the scouts’ notebooks…
The President of Algeria, Abdelaziz Bouteflika has replaced the long-standing head of Algeria’s military intelligence agency, in his latest move in a campaign to curb the spy chief’s influence in politics. The removal on Sunday of Mohamed Mediene, chief of the intelligence service for more than two decades, sidelines a powerful figure in the country. Known by his nickname Toufik and seldom seen even in photographs, Mediene had long played the role of political kingmaker, analysts said, influencing leadership choices in Algeria’s backroom tussles between civilian and military factions within the leadership. Mediene was replaced by General Athmane Tartag, a…