Burkina president calls on army to remain 'neutral'

Burkina Faso President Roch Marc Christian Kabore on Tuesday implored the country’s army to respect the “rule of law”.
The impoverished, landlocked west African country has been blighted by numerous coups and mutinies since gaining independence from France in 1960.
Ten days ago the government claimed it had thwarted another coup plot earlier in the month led by troops loyal to former president Blaise Compaore, who was chased from power two years ago following a popular revolt.
“Democracy needs a strong and republican army, an army that conforms to the rules and to the demands of the rule of law, and which doesn’t act as if in a state of emergency,” Kabore told soldiers gathered in the capital Ouagadougou for celebrations marking the 56th anniversary of the country’s armed forces (FAN).
Kabore called on the army to maintain “an attitude of neutrality” and to stay out of the “political sphere”, saying it must “serve the government, which.. draws its legitimacy from a public electorate”.
On October 21, Burkina’s Interior Minister Simon Compaore – no relation to the ousted former president – said the government had foiled a “vast conspiracy” to attack the presidential palace.