“A NEW dawn breaks for Burkina Faso!” read billboards across the country as citizens prepared to go the polls. And in some ways it has: a year after protesters ousted Blaise Compaoré, their president of 27 years, the small west African nation finally chose his successor, and elected a new parliament, on November 29th. Of the 14 presidential candidates, the favourite, Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, won comfortably, according to the Independent National Electoral Commission, defying predictions of a second-round run-off. Early signs are that this will be the first peaceful transfer of power since independence.
This didn’t always look likely. In September an aborted coup threatened to derail the post-Compaoré transition. Disbanding the elite military guard behind it, the Presidential Security Regiment (RSP), proved tricky. Security threats have also made people nervous, especially after terrorists murdered at least 20 people in a hotel in neighbouring Mali on November 20th. The interim government closed the country’s borders in advance of the election after 13 people, suspected of planning bombings, were arrested near the Mali-Burkina Faso...Continue reading
Source: Middle East and Africa http://ift.tt/1O0OFWg
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