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Continued Run of Burkina Faso President Supported by Rally

Continued Run of Burkina Faso President Supported by Rally

Written by Mathieu Bonkoungou & David Lewis | From Reuters UK

Supporters of Burkina Faso’s leader rallied at the weekend to press for a referendum on removing limits to presidential terms, the clearest sign yet that he may seek re-election in 2015.

Blaise Compaore – in power since leading a coup in 1987 – has positioned himself as a power broker in West Africa and a key ally for France and the United States in the fight against al Qaeda-linked Islamists in the Sahara-Sahel band.

His supporters have said he wants to extend his rule, though he has not publicly stated his plans. That has aggravated political tensions, while mass defections from Compaore’s party this year and series of protests by soldiers and civilians in 2011 underscore rising challenges to his influence.

“He (Compaore) is a democrat and a republican. His plan is to seek your opinion in a referendum,” Assimi Kouanda, executive secretary of Compaore’s CDP party, told tens of thousands of supporters at a rally in Bobo Dioulasso, the country’s second biggest town, on Saturday.

Read more at Reuters UK