ion of Burkina Faso and to move immediately towards free and fair presidential elections,” she said in a statement.
The West African regional bloc ECOWAS urged dialogue and restraint.
Opposition figures have said around 30 people were killed in Thursday’s violence that hit the capital and at least one other city. AFP could confirm only four deaths.
Shortly after the military named Zida as interim leader, opposition and activist leaders had issued a joint statement demanding a “democratic and civilian transition” in the country of nearly 17 million people.
“The task of managing the transition falls by right to the people. In no case can it be confiscated by the army,” it said.
Compaore and his wife have taken refuge in neighbouring Ivory Coast where they are being put up in a luxury government mansion in the capital Yamoussoukro.
– Bitter disillusion –
The crisis in Burkina Faso — known as Upper Volta in its era as a French colony before becoming independent in 1960 and changing its name in 1984 — is the worst since a wave of unrest three years ago.
From March to June 2011, a wave of army mutinies swept the country, alongside public protests over high food prices, unemployment and the looting of property by troops.
Compaore was only 36 when he seized power in a 1987 coup in which his former friend and one of Africa’s most loved leaders, Thomas Sankara, was ousted and assassinated.
In the manner of a number of sub-Saharan African leaders, he clung to power for the following decades, being re-elected president four times since 1991.
The uprising that finally forced him out was sparked by plans to change the constitution to allow Compaore to stand yet again for elections next year.
He leaves bitter disillusion behind. Burkina Faso languishes at 181 out of 187 countries on the UN Human Development Index.
Source:Vanguard