The 2014 Burkinabé Uprisings

 

The 2014 Burkinabé Uprisings

     Wouldn't you be frustrated if Obama was the same President for a number of years, say 27 years? And since then, America would go downhill since he was inaugurated? In 27 years, there would have been almost 7 more Presidents in America, so why should one President be so selfish? This is how the people of Burkina Faso feel about their lousy, President for a long time and are demanding for a change fast.

     Compaoré took power in a 1987 coup d'état that killed the long-time friend of his Thomas Sankara, (who was the ruler of Burkina Faso at the time). Once he was out of the way, Compaoré wasted no time taking power. While he has been President, Burkina Faso's population has ranked among the worlds' poorest and has remained so with widespread illiteracy (not being able to read/write) and a large, uneducated middle-class.

"It has been 27 years and 15 days—exactly since Blaise Compaoré has been in office," says Boubacar Bah, a 41-year old auto mechanic who had shown up outside the Burkina Consulate in New York with a megaphone. "I am hoping for a change."

 
     In late October, Compaoré was ready to amend the constitution to extend his 27-year rule. The Burkinabé (bur-keen-ah-bay) are frustrated, so they protested and demanded that the President be removed from office. On November 1st, Compaoré was forced to resign from his post and fled to the Ivory Coast, southwest from Burkina Faso. Even since then, protesters have gone so far as setting fire to the Parliament and burning down the homes of the President's relatives.

The Burkinabé military struggles for control of country, using gunfire to clear thousands of protesters from the streets, so far as killing one. Meanwhile the UN (United Nations) and the AU (African Union) have condemned the seizure of power in Burkina Faso by Colonel Isaac Zida Saturday. The AU (a union consisting of 54 African countries) has given Burkina Faso 2 weeks to return to order or face severe penalties. The military promises to soon drop the reins of power and give it to civilian transitional government.

"The army does not want power. But the anarchy needs to stop. Any violation will be punished with the utmost energy," Colonel Zida's spokesman Auguste Barry commented.

     Now that Burkina Faso's capital Ouagadougou (wah-gah-doo-goo) is back into state, the AU is struggling to find a temporary leader for the broken country until a full-time leader is brought in order.

Sources for this article were directed from cnn.com, abcnews.go.com and the nytimes.com