Et af Danidas store samarbejdslande i bistanden, Burkina Faso i Vestafrika, er ramt af voldsomme uroligheder. Stolen vakler under præsidenten, der for 23 år siden styrtede sin populære og omstridte forgænger, Thomas Sankara
OUAGADOUGOU, 28 April 2011 (IRIN): President Blaise Compaoré is increasingly cornered, and must adopt a series of urgent reforms to avoid further waves of unrest in the country, say West African analysts.
In the latest uprising, police fired their guns in the air in the capital, Ouagadougou, on 27 and 28 April, and in the second largest city Bobo-Dioulasso in the west, calling for a new salary scheme (lønforhøjelser), approved by parliament this year, to be implemented.
This followed protests by shop-keepers in Koudougou in the centre-west on 27 April, who burned the mayor’s house, parts of the local market, and the military headquarters. Earlier this month, soldiers in the capital staged protests over unequal pay.
Observers told IRIN they were not surprised by the violence, given that mounting discontent in the country had largely fallen on deaf ears.
– A crisis was to be expected, said Alexander Ouedraogo, permanent secretary of the African Center for Strategic Studies (ACESA) in Burkina Faso.
– We have seen impunity (straffrihed), embezzlement (underslæb/bedrageri) and senior military officers getting fat while the rest of the population suffers, but the government has not listened, he said.
Compaoré, now also the self-appointed Minister of Defence, has pledged to meet the increased pay demands of army officers and to try to address the problems raised by trade unions incensed by the high cost of living. He is holding meetings with army officers and trade union representatives this week.
Idiatou Bah, head of political governance research at the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) in Dakar, said it was the first time Compaoré appeared to be “shaken”.
– Compoaré has always been West Africa’s mediator and peace-maker, but his image has been tarnished (ridset), and he now does not appear to be as strong, either to his populace (befolkning) or to the region as a whole, she told IRIN.
His unease is evidenced by the “dangerous move” he made in appointing himself head of defence on 21 April, she added.
Background
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