20110423
reuters

OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) - Burkina Faso's President Blaise Compaore named himself to the post of defence minister in a move aimed at quelling army dissent and popular unrest in the West African state.

But the country's opposition said it feared the step was a precursor to more authoritarian rule and the main trade union vowed to hold further street protests if the government did react within days to its appeals for anti-poverty measures.

Compaore has ruled the top regional cotton-producer since a 1987 coup but growing popular anger at rising food prices and an unprecedented string of violent protests by soldiers have posed the most serious threat yet to his authority.

"I believe the Burkinabe are aware that we must advance, that we have to find solutions to this crisis," Compaore told reporters on Friday after his appointment was announced by decree late on Thursday.

"We need more dialogue between citizens and government."

The decree also set up a new government line-up after he sacked his entire cabinet and top military brass last Friday. Luc Adolphe Tiao, Burkina's 56-year-old ambassador to France, was appointed as the new prime minister.

Compaore won a new five-year term after taking 80 percent of the votes in an election last November, but critics say the vote was unfair, estimating barely 3 million out of around 8 million eligible voters managed to register to take part.

"When they speak about dialogue, with whom do they mean?" Benewende Stanislas Sankara, head of the opposition coalition, told reporters in the capital Ouagadougou.