Key dates in the west African state of Burkina Faso from the fall of ex-president Blaise Compaore to the power grab by the Presidential Security Regiment (RSP) on Thursday.
-- 2014 --
- October 31: After a 27-year rule marked by assassinations and growing public unrest, Compaore steps down and takes refuge in Ivory Coast. Suspicious deaths during his rule include that of Norbert Zongo, a journalist killed in 1998 who was probing a murder that might have had links to Compaore's brother Francois.
- November 1: Lieutenant Colonel Issac Zida, second-in-command of the RSP, takes power. Zida promises a transition within a "constitutional framework".
- November 16: The army and civilian groups sign a transition charter.
- November 17: Veteran diplomat Michel Kafando is named interim president to lead the country until elections can be held.
- November 19: Zida is named interim prime minister and retains the post of defence minister when his cabinet is unveiled four days later.
- November 27: Kafando fires General Gilbert Diendere, Compaore's chief-of-staff, and orders a purge of other loyalists from within the army and presidential palace staff.
- December 13: Speaking on the anniversary of Zongo's murder, Zida calls for the RSP to be made part of the regular army and sent to fight terrorism and banditry.
-- 2015 --
- January 22: Kafando announces that general elections are to be held on October 11.
- April 10: Kafando signs a controversial law that excludes figures linked to Compaore from running for office.
- June 5: The African Court on Human and People's Rights orders Burkina Faso to reopen a probe into Zongo's murder.
- July 2: Kafando is called to mediate between Zida and the RSP, which wants Zida and Security Minister Auguste Denise Barry sacked, along with the creation of an entirely civilian administration.
- July 16: Interim parliament deputies pass a resolution asking the High Court to try Compaore for "high treason and violation of the constitution."
- September 17: The RSP declares a coup a day after seizing Kafando, Zida and two ministers. Former Compaore aid Diendere is to lead a National Council for Democracy. A nationwide curfew is declared, and land and air borders are closed until further notice.
