The Presidential Security Regiment (RSP), an elite unit which was one of the pillars of the regime of deposed Burkinabe President Blaise Compaoré, arrested, on 16^th September, the transition president, Michel Kafando, the head of government and his ministers, reports Reuters agency, quoting military sources.

The members of this unit burst in a cabinet meeting in Ouagadougou. “The entire government, including the Prime Minister, and the President, are the prisoners of a group of soldiers of the presidential guard. At the moment”, a military source declared to Reuters, indicating that the members of RSP did not immediately reveal their demands.

Journalists from the public television, who had come to record the meeting, confirmed the information, without adding more details.

The Reconciliation and Reforms Commission proposed on 14^th September dismantling the RSP and redeploying its members as part of a larger reform of the army.

In a report given to Prime Minister Yacouba Isaac Zida, himself an ex-Major of the RSP, the Reconciliation and Reforms Commission described the regiment of 1,200 troops as “an army inside the army”.

The interferences of the RSP in the political life after the eviction of Blaise Compaoré by a popular uprising in October 2014 after 27 years of domination brought about street protests and pushed the transition authorities to call for a reassessment of the role of presidential guard. RSP for instance tried to force the Prime Minister to resign because he was planning to reduce their number.

Presidential and legislative elections are scheduled for 11^th October in Burkina Faso.