Author: Chen-shen Yen.

Burkina Faso, which witnessed a popular uprising a year ago, experienced a setback on its way to restore political normalcy when a coup led by former chief of staff and head of the elite Regiment of Presidential Security, General Gilbert Diendéré, took place in September and temporarily ousted the transitional government led by President Michel Kafando and Prime Minister Yacouba Isaac Zida. Under pressure from the international community, protests by the civil society, and an unwavering stand by the military, the putsch lasted only a week before the transitional team was reinstated. The turmoil caused a certain degree of uneasiness in Taipei about Ouagadougou’s change of government as it might also lead to a change of recognition to Beijing. Burkina Faso is one of only three diplomatic allies of Taiwan in Africa.