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Military in Burkina Faso confirms coup, dissolves government

FILE - In this Nov. 4, 2014 file photo, Burkina Faso Prime Minister Lt. Col. Yacouba Isaac Zida , center, leaves a government building after meeting with political leaders in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Soldiers detained Burkina Faso’s transitional president and prime minister Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2015, raising fears of a coup just weeks before the country was to hold an election to replace its longtime leader who was ousted in a popular uprising late last year. (AP Photo/Theo Renaut,File)
FILE - In this Nov. 4, 2014 file photo, Burkina Faso Prime Minister Lt. Col. Yacouba Isaac Zida , center, leaves a government building after meeting with political leaders in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Soldiers detained Burkina Faso’s transitional president and prime minister Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2015, raising fears of a coup just weeks before the country was to hold an election to replace its longtime leader who was ousted in a popular uprising late last year. (AP Photo/Theo Renaut,File) FILE - In this Nov. 4, 2014 file photo, Burkina Faso Prime Minister Lt. Col. Yacouba Isaac Zida , center, leaves a government building after meeting with political leaders in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Soldiers detained Burkina Faso’s transitional president and prime minister Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2015, raising fears of a coup just weeks before the country was to hold an election to replace its longtime leader who was ousted in a popular uprising late last year. (AP Photo/Theo Renaut,File)

By Associated Press 2 min read

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) – While gunfire rang out in the streets, Burkina Faso’s military took to the airwaves Thursday to declare it now controls the West African country, confirming that a coup has taken place just weeks before elections.

The announcement aired on national television and radio said the transitional government was dissolved and the interim president no longer in power.

The coup leaders, who come from an elite presidential guard unit that had disagreed publicly with the transitional government in recent months, identified themselves as the National Council for Democracy.

Their public statement confirmed what many suspected Wednesday when the transitional president and prime minister were arrested and barricades were erected around the presidency.

The communique read by Lt. Col. Mamadou Bamba criticized the electoral code, which blocked members of the ex-president’s party from taking part in the Oct. 11 elections. Anyone who supported the ex-president’s bid to amend the constitution so he could seek another term is also banned from running.