page_title: Regiment of Presidential Security
section_title: Support of Compaoré
hierarchical_section_title: Regiment of Presidential Security / History / Support of Compaoré
caption_attribution_description: English: Memorial of the murder of Norbert Zongo. Highway near Sapouy, Burkina Faso English: lieu commémoratif, commémorant l'assassinat de Norbert Zongo. Autoroute proche de Sapouy, Burkina Faso
context_page_description: The Regiment of Presidential Security was the secret service organisation responsible for VIP security to the President of Burkina Faso, a landlocked country in West Africa. It was autonomous from the Army. Until 31 October 2014, the President was Blaise Compaoré, a military officer who came to power in a 1987 coup d'état. The elite unit was well known for its frequent involvement in the politics of Burkina Faso, acting as the iron fist of President Compaoré in his domination of the country. They were said to be widely feared by many people in the country, which in 2012 – two years prior to the end of Compaoré's government – was described by the Democracy Index as an "authoritarian regime".
  On 1 November 2014, Lieutenant Colonel Yacouba Isaac Zida – deputy commander of the Regiment of Presidential Security – briefly took over as Acting President following Compaoré's ouster. Later in the month, Zida was named Prime Minister. On 16 September 2015, after its disbandment was recommended, the RSP staged another coup that took Michel Kafando and his government hostage. The Army stepped in and Kafando was reinstated on 23 September.
context_section_description: Rising to prominence after Captain Blaise Compaoré seized power in a bloody 1987 military coup, it was involved in several extrajudicial killings on the orders of President Compaoré during the 1990s, functioning as a death squad as well as bodyguards. In 1990, the medical student and youth activist David Boukary was tortured to death by the RSP. In 1998, David Ouedraogo – the driver of the President's brother François Compaoré – was murdered, which triggered an investigation by the journalist Norbert Zongo, the most prominent government critic in the country at the time. On 13 December 1998 the burnt bodies of Zongo, his brother Ernest, Ablassé Nikiema and Blaise Ilboudo were found in Sapouy, riddled with bullets. Initially dismissing the murders as a "tragic accident", the government was eventually forced by public pressure to appoint an investigation.
  The Independent Commission of Inquiry found that Ouedraogo had been tortured to death by soldiers of the RSP in their barracks because of accusations that he had stolen from the President's brother, and that Norbert Zongo and the other three had been likewise killed by the RSP. Compaoré subsequently promised a reorganization of the RSP, and several of its soldiers were arrested, among them Marcel Kafando, who was the unit's commander at the time of the murders. By 2006, however, all had been acquitted or had their charges dropped.
  Not only functioning as Compaoré's enforcers, members of the RSP were accused at least twice of involvement in attempts to seize power. In October 1996 twenty-five RSP soldiers were arrested, and together with the Regiment's commander – Hyacinthe Kafando (no relation to Marcel Kafando, his successor), who was abroad at the time – they were put on trial for plotting to launch a coup d'état, possibly with Ivorian involvement. Kafando, who had been involved in Compaoré's own 1987 military coup (which likewise had help from the Ivorian government at the time), was allowed to return to Burkina Faso from his exile in 2001. In October 2003 the government announced that it had successfully prevented a planned coup. In early January 2004 fifteen members of the armed forces, including several members of the RSP, were arrested together with two civilians on suspicion of involvement in an alleged conspiracy. After President Compaoré resigned on 31 October 2014 as a result of protests against his proposal to abolish presidential term limits, the RSP staged a coup on 16 September 2015 after its disbandment was recommended, seizing control of Ouagadougou. However, after popular opposition and action by the regular military, transitional President Michel Kafando and Prime Minister Yacouba Zida were restored to their positions on 23 September 2015.
  The Regiment of Presidential Security had a prominent role in quelling the 2011 Burkinabé protests, which erupted in February and continued until a settlement was reached in June. In addition to large-scale street protests and labour strikes, the uprising involved numerous cases of mutinies among the armed forces. The RSP was instrumental in putting down these mutinies, for example laying siege to a military base in Bobo-Dioulasso in June and battling with rebellious troops there. These events caused friction between the Army and the Regiment, one feared by Compaoré and the other trusted. As a result of their role in the protests, the RSP received far better weaponry than the rest of the military, in addition to being better paid.
  On 11 April 2012, a soldier who had deserted from the Regiment, Romuald Tuina, robbed a Ouagadougou bank in broad daylight, carrying off more than seven million CFA francs and fleeing to Ivory Coast. On the night of 30–31 August 2013, Tuina – having returned to Burkina Faso – attempted to assassinate Compaoré, opening fire on the President's office after breaking into the presidential palace dressed in a military uniform. He was killed in the following exchange of gunfire.
caption: Norbert Zongo, a journalist killed by the RSP
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