Veteran diplomat Michel Kafando, just sworn in as Burkina Faso’s interim president to oversee a year-long transition to civilian rule, will on Wednesday appoint army strongman Lieutenant-Colonel Isaac Zida as prime minister, a senior officer has told AFP.

The deal has been agreed between politicians and army leaders, said the officer.

“We negotiated the post of prime minister. Everyone agrees,” said the officer, adding that the post of prime minister will “return to Lieutenant-Colonel Zida”.

“It was on this understanding that we gave the post of president … to civilians,” added the officer.

Zida was put in power in the immediate aftermath of the uprising against longtime-leader Blaise Compaore last month.

Kafando was sworn in on Tuesday and pledged he would not let the country become a “banana republic”.

The one-time foreign minister vowed to “respect and defend the constitution, the transition charter and laws and do everything to guarantee justice for all Burkinabes” as he took the oath at a televised ceremony in the capital Ouagadougou.

Poised to formally take over Friday from an interim military ruler, the 72-year-old emphasised his “humility” as a leader aware that he temporarily held “power that belongs to the people”.

“The constitution of a country holds the keys to the very organisation of the state. To change it too much leads to a breakdown in society, to regrettable upheavals such as we have recently known,” Kafando said.

Credit: Yahoo News