Military topples Upper Volta Govt

Press, 27 November 1980, Page 8

Military topples Upper Volta Govt

NZPA-Reuter. , . Abidjan,] Ivory Coast I A military coup has I overthrown; the democratic-1 cally - elected civilian Gov-1 eminent of President Sang-' oule Lamizama in the sub-; Saharan State of Upper! Volta. ' -I :i Diplomatic sources in the! neighbouring Ivory Coast i said that the coup was led; by, Colonel Saye Zerbo, a former Foreign Minister who now commands a regiment in the countryls capital, Ouagadougou. ' • . ] ; -The sources said there had’

iapparently been no violence, land President Lamizanaj Iwho himself acquired power I jin a coup in 1966, was still! i at his . residence. “Not one I I shot was fired,” an Upper; I Volta diplomatic source said. | I The sources added that ac-l icording to a radio announce-! iment the new regime had] ■ dissolved Parliament and; I suspended the Constitution, i ; Upper Volta, an impove-j i rished, land-locked country; of about six million people,. was one of only two. multi-! party democracies in F r e n c h-speaking black [Africa. The sole remaining! ilmulti-party democracy inj

the Francophone community is Senegal. The coup, the third since ; Upper Volta’s independence [from France in 1960, was preceded by a two-month i teachers’ strike which led to a political confrontation between the Opposition parties, which supported the teachers, and the Government.

Upper Volta is. one of the poorest countries in the world with a per capita annual income of only §l6O. The country has few resources except unexploited manganese in the northern part of the country.