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Vol 52 No 9

Published 29th April 2011


Burkina Faso

Beau Blaise loses it

After his regional mediation, President Compaoré is now threatened by a national crisis of his own making

Almost before Blaise Compaoré had a chance to celebrate the installation of his friend Alassane Dramane Ouattara as President of neighbouring Côte d’Ivoire, he had to deal with the most serious challenge to his power since he seized the presidency from another friend, Thomas Sankara, in 1987. The crisis began as a wave of student demonstrations after reports that police had arbitrarily killed a youth in the capital, Ouagadougou. That sparked civic protests throughout the country and the usually ineffectual political opposition believes it has put Compaoré on the defensive.

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