Zida called on the international community including the African Union to “support our people during this difficult ordeal.” He had announced that the country's borders had been closed, a transitional committee had been set up and the constitution had been suspended.
Gen. Traore, the joint chief of staff, had on Friday told reporters that he would assume the presidency until elections were called, so Lt. Col. Zida's declaration Saturday caused initial confusion.
Over the course of several dramatic hours, Compaore, 63, went from looking likely to jam through parliament a bill that would let him seek a fifth term to agreeing to step down next year to abandoning office immediately.
The quick succession of events took many by surprise, since Compaore had long out-maneuvered his adversaries and has in recent years become an important regional mediator. Burkina Faso hosts French special forces and serves as an important ally of both France and the United States in the fight against Islamic militants in West Africa.
The United States called on Burkina Faso's military “to immediately transfer power to civilian authorities” in order “to move immediately towards free and fair presidential elections.
“The United States condemns the Burkinabe military's attempt to impose its will on the people of Burkina Faso,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement released on Saturday.
Compaore first came to power following the October 1987 coup against then-President Thomas Sankara, Compaore's longtime friend and political ally who was killed in the power grab.
While he was respected on the international stage, critics noted that, under Compaore's semi-authoritarian rule, the country of 18 million people remained mired in poverty. The landlocked country's fortunes rise and fall with gold and cotton prices—and adequate rain in a region plagued by drought.
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