Burkina Faso uprising

[Tjis]

So apparently there's an uprising going on in Burkina Faso. President Blaise Compaore, in power since Thomas Sankara was killed in a coup in 1987, fled the capital city today after his personal guard started a mutiny. According to wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burkina_Faso#Burkina_Faso) there has been unrest since February though, because of the death of a schoolboy (no further details given).
Does anyone know what is going on there?

Edit: French wikipedia (http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%A9volte_burkinab%C3%A9e) (translation (http://http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=fr&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Ffr.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FR%25C3%25 A9volte_burkinab%25C3%25A9e)) provides more information. To summarize, the uprising began on February the 21th, after a student was lynched by police officers in a police station. Demonstrations of students and workers followed, resulting in the sacking of various governmental buildings and police stations. After that a curfew was instated, but by now this has been lifted.
Though the trigger of the uprising was the lyncing of this student, the cause of the uprising seem to be high food prices and bad housing. With the Arab protests going on, the situation in Burkina Faso seems to have been overlooked by both the mainstream media and the left. I myself didn't know there was anything going on until I read a news message this morning which said Blaise Compaore left the capital city. Most of the sources on this are in French though, and google translate is not perfect. Could someone who understands french better than I do find out what is going on?

[Ermo Kruus]

I don't know anything more than you, but I think there's a lot of left-wing potential here given the country's history. A lot of people who lived in the 1980s are still angered over the fact that Blaise Compaore betrayed the Burkinabe revolution and killed Thomas Sankara. I certainly hope this grows into a big uprising and with the recent events in the Ivory Coast, it wouldn't suprise me if this spreads to other countries in the region.

[Ligeia]

According to several news sites I've checked:
-it's the presidential guard that's acting
-since Ivory Coast has problems, imports and exports are not going well so food prices have risen
-Compaore is in the capital again (he fled to his hometown then returned and probably wants to meet the chief of U.N. mission in Ivory Coast)
-On Thursday, tens of thousands of people across the country marched in protest against the high cost of living in one of the biggest demonstrations seen in many years in Ouagadougou.
-Compaore has faced a series of protests since February, staged first by students and then by soldiers.
-according to other news the protesting people are young soldiers of 2006 who want their housing allowances and are angry on higher ranking militaries because they enrich themselves
-military chief residences have been attacked

[Volcanicity]

The president of Burkina Faso's personal guard have mutinied and there have been street protests as well as soldiers running riot and confiscating any civilian vehicles mostly pick-ups.

This is the latest news on the situation.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20110415/tpl-burkina-faso-leader-battles-mutiny-383fe17.html.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13090094.

[Salyut]

The president of Burkina Faso's personal guard have mutinied and there have been street protests as well as soldiers running riot and confiscating any civilian vehicles mostly pick-ups.


They're looking to build some technicals.

[Hoipolloi Cassidy]

Could someone who understands french better than I do find out what is going on?

Main thing to know about the article you cited: the French commonly use the present tense ("historic present") where English speakers would use the past. So the Wikipedia.fr article really describes a series of events that appeared at the time (about two weeks ago) to have peaked. But obviously haven't.

Thanks for the heads up! Let us all know if there's any recent stuff from French observers, they're obviously far better informed about French-speaking Africa.

[Lacrimi de Chiciură]

Short video in French of the protest in Ouagadougou last Friday (http://www.afrik.com/article22565.html)

Signs say "we are hungry"; "Great Mediator, the people are victim, hostages of hunger, when will there be a negotiation for the end of hunger?"; "we demand to exist"; "we disagree with expensive life"; "Justice for Norbert Zongo"; "The Trade Unions and Autonomous Unions of Burkina Faso: No to freezes on salaries and pensions! Forward with a substantial increase in salaries and pensions!"

[Hoipolloi Cassidy]

Short video in French of the protest in Ouagadougou last Friday (http://www.afrik.com/article22565.html)

Great tape. The narrative that the voice-over and the camera provide mutually reinforce the following points: that these marches unite the main strata of BF society: students protesting repression, a Government employee, housewives, the unions (CGTB) and others; that they demand an end to incompetent Government administration (meaning, I suspect, corruption), as well as increased price control on basic necessities. The best line is delivered by the large woman addressing the camera: that if the Pres. can't run the country he should leave, and she'll run it herself.

[agnixie]

Great tape. The narrative that the voice-over and the camera provide mutually reinforce the following points: that these marches unite the main strata of BF society: students protesting repression, a Government employee, housewives, the unions (CGTB) and others; that they demand an end to incompetent Government administration (meaning, I suspect, corruption), as well as increased price control on basic necessities. The best line is delivered by the large woman addressing the camera: that if the Pres. can't run the country he should leave, and she'll run it herself.

And there's the traditional screams of Blaise, salaud, le peuple aura ta peau (Blaise, bastard, the people will have your skin; I don't think I've ever seen french speaking protests without that aimed at the leaders being protested at)

[Tjis]

President Blaise Compaore has dissolved the government and appointed a bunch of new officials, including a new army chief. He is also reported to have given in to the demands of the soldiers, probably meaning that the soldiers will get paid their unpaid housing subsidies. (http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/04/201141519562625827.html)

[Hoipolloi Cassidy]

From a bit of surfing the French-speaking webs:

The troubles in Burkina have turned into a three-way game, with various factions in the army demanding better pay (or simply looting to get it), and various citizens' groups taking advantage of the chaos to go after Pres. Blaise Compaoré. For instance, merchants from the Central Market in Ouagadougou have attacked and burned the headquarters of the ruling party in retaliation for the soldiers' looting.

As an interesting footnote, Compaoré is a long-time close ally of Ouattara, the new IMF flunkie (or in local parlance, their "oui missié."); you can tell because, like Ouattara, Compaoré was recently elected with 87% of the vote. Of course, since Compaoré has had a hand in the troubles in Ivory Coast and Liberia, it's probably a matter of time before the trouble spreads across borders, though in what direction is hard to tell.