[ONLINE.WSJ] The president of Burkina Faso...The country in west Africa that they put where Upper Volta used to be. Its capital is Oogadooga, or something like that. Its president is currently Blaise Compaoré, who took office in 1987 and will leave office feet first, one way or the other...
resigned Friday after 27 years in power, abruptly swept from office by a popular revolt only to be immediately replaced by military rule and an uncertain political future.
Blaise had asked his legislature to pass a law allowing him to have a fifth term in office.
Blaise Compaoré, a reserved but influential leader in often chaotic West Africa, announced in a statement posted to his Twitter account that he was relinquishing the presidency and called for elections within 90 days. He then sped by car toward the country's southern borders with Ghana and Togo, said a French diplomat and a politician close to Mr. Compaoré.
Towing a U-Haul trailer stuffed with the national treasury...
The military's chief of staff, Gen. Nabéré Honoré Traoré declared himself the nation's leader in a statement published by the state-run news agency.
...and if you can't believe the state-run news agency who can you believe?...
"L'etat c'est moi now..."
It was a dispiriting twist for demonstrators who had thronged the streets of the capital Ouagadougou to demand the 63-year-old Mr. Compaoré step down from office then saw him replaced with a representative of the country's military.
They got what they wanted. Then they got more.
"I find it sad," said Amadou Yaro, a civil servant. "We had a democracy."
... where His Excellency the President had served four seven-year terms and was asking for a fifth. I'll give you a hint: He's got three acutes in his name..
The U.S. and La Belle France called on Mr. Compaoré's successors to respect the country's constitution, with French President François Hollande urging the "quick holding of democratic elections."
They always promise elections, don't they? Guess who gets to be president next.
Only days before his unexpected political eclipse, Mr. Compaoré seemed secure in office for as long he wished, confidently asking parliament to approve legislation Thursday allowing him to seek another five-year term as president.
He expected to leave feet-first.
Such legislation would have helped him ease his way into the ranks of African leaders such as Zim-bob-we's Bob
MuggsyMugabe
Octogenarian President-for-Life of Zim-bob-we who turned the former Breadbasket of Africa into the African Basket Case...
, Cameroon
...a long, narrow country that fills the space between Nigeria and Chad on the northeast, CAR to the southeast. Prior to incursions by Boko Haram nothing ever happened there...
's Paul Biya, and Angola's Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who have been in power for more than three decades.