Regiment of Presidential Security
| Regiment of Presidential Security | |
|---|---|
| Régiment de la Sécurité Présidentielle | |
| Active | 1987–2015 |
| Country | Burkina Faso |
| Type | Pretorian guard |
| Role | VIP protection |
| Size | ≈1,300 |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders |
Gilbert Diendéré |
The Regiment of Presidential Security (French: Régiment de la Sécurité Présidentielle, RSP) 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. The Regiment of Presidential Security was disbanded, as previously recommended, on 25 September 2015.
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.
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