General Gilbert Diendere: new head of junta

The coup led by former spy chief, General Gilbert Diendere has been condemned worldwide, as a setback to the inspiring transition programme, that already scheduled an election for 11 October.

Following a meeting of the AU Peace and Security Council in Addis Ababa, the 54-member pan-African bloc said the country was suspended “with immediate effect”, and slapped a travel ban and asset freeze on the junta leaders.

“The Council decided in accordance with the instrument we have in place to suspend Burkina Faso from all activities of the Union with immediate effect,” Uganda’s ambassador to the AU, Mull Katende, told reporters.

He also described the kidnapping of the country’s interim leaders as a “terrorist” act which should be “addressed a such by the entire international community.”

The AU Peace and Security Council also ordered all member states to impose a “travel ban and asset freeze on all members of the so-called National Committee for Democracy”, which declared the coup, and for for a list of its leaders to be compiled and circulated so they can be officially condemned as “terrorist elements”.

In addition, it said it would consult with the West African Monetary Union “with the view to denying… the perpetrators access to the resources of the West African state’s central bank,” and urged “all bilateral and multilateral partners to suspend all military and security cooperation programmes as well as economic cooperation programmes.

“All measures taken by those who took power by force in Burkina Faso are null and void. The AU shall not recognise nor support any process conducted outside of the transition. The Council demands a return to status quo ante in Burkina Faso,” Katende added.