OUAGADOUGOU: Burkina Faso's presidential guard has ditched its call for interim Prime Minister Isaac Zida to resign, after the premier promised Thursday not to dismantle the elite unit, military sources said.
During talks in the capital Ouagadougou Zida promised to maintain the presidential security regiment (RSP) after having called for its dissolution in December, several officers told AFP.
There was "no question of dissolving the RSP", which would instead be reformed so that it no longer only served the head of state, senior military sources told AFP.
In return the RSP abandoned the call it issued Wednesday for Zida's resignation.
"The composition of the government is not a matter for the army. The prime minister was not named by the army and the army cannot dismiss him," the sources said.
The compromise was seen as averting further possible unrest in the impoverished West African country, less than four months after longtime president Blaise Compaore was forced from power by mass protests.
The RSP was widely criticised for its role in the heavy-handed response by security forces to the demonstrations, in which at least 24 people were killed and over 600 injured.
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