No: 256, 17 September 2015

We follow with concern that a group of soldiers who are members of the Presidential Guard Unit entered the hall in which the meeting of the Council of Ministers was held in the Presidential Palace, seized the interim President Michel Kafando, Prime Minister Isaac Zida and some Ministers; and made a coup d’etat in the capital of Burkina Faso, Ouagadougou on 16 September 2015. Accordingly, we reject the fact that politics is intervened by non-democratic methods.

In the light of the transitional stage which Burkina Faso is in and the general elections to be held on 11 October 2015, we hold the opinion that the said coup which constitutes an obstacle to the construction of democracy in the country endangers the peace process in Burkina Faso and makes the situation in the country more fragile.

In this process, we call upon all parties to refrain from violence.