* Burkina Faso emerging from democratic transition
* Attack came at vulnerable moment for security forces
* Response seen as crucial to economic, social recovery
By Matthew Mpoke Bigg
OUAGADOUGOU, Jan 20 (Reuters) - When Burkina Faso swore in
its first new president in decades last month, many people hoped
the democratic transition would pave the way to an era of
progress. Now a deadly raid by al Qaeda militants has shaken
that optimism.
Thirty people were killed when gunmen struck a restaurant
and hotel in the capital Ouagadougou on Friday, exposing a
days-old government to a critical security challenge that risks
derailing its pledge to transform the economy of one of the
poorest nations on earth.
Mass protests in October 2014 drove out former President
Blaise Compaore, who had ruled for nearly three decades after
taking power in a 1987 coup. Following a year of transition,
Roch Marc Christian Kabore won an election to become leader.
Kabore promised to improve access to water, healthcare and
education and signalled a break from the past last week by
naming a cabinet packed with ministers with no ties to Compaore.
But those ministers had not even been sworn in when the al
Qaeda fighters killed citizens of several countries including
six Canadians at the Cappuccino cafe and Splendid Hotel, two
Ouagadougou establishments popular with foreigners.
"The timing is not random," said Cynthia Ohayon, an analyst
with the International Crisis Group. "We are at a moment of
political fragility because the country is coming out of a
transition after 27 years and the new government is just
starting to get to work."
Compaore's departure has left Burkina's security apparatus
in disarray.
Having taken power in a coup himself, Compaore sought to
prevent his own overthrow by pouring resources into the elite
presidential guard.
However the unit, the best equipped and trained in the army,
was disbanded last year after it mounted an unsuccessful coup
against the transitional government in September.
Compaore's fall also disrupted discreet links his security
officials had established with militant and rebel groups in the
region that could perhaps have served to warn the authorities of
the attack or even prevent it, according to Ohayon.
While neighbouring Mali has been subject to a growing
campaign of militant assaults in the past year including one on
a hotel in the capital in November, until last week Burkina Faso
had been spared a major attack.
HIGH STAKES
President Kabore and his ministers have taken to the
airwaves to reassure the public, investors and potential
tourists that the government can face down the threat facing
Burkina Faso, one of a belt of French-speaking countries in the
Sahel, south of the Sahara.
"All security measures have been taken to make Burkina Faso
peaceful," Foreign Minister Alpha Barry told ambassadors on
Tuesday at a specially-convened meeting.
Security Minister Simon Compaore was even more direct: "We
want to reassure everyone who lives on Burkinabe soil that
foreigners can continue to come to our country, to invest in our
country and live here."
In the days to come, France is set to play an important
security role both in terms of investigating the attack and
using its intelligence network to track potential threats.
Burkina's former colonial master has around 200 special
forces based in Ouagadougou as part of a regional operation
against Islamist insurgents. Some of them participated in the
counter-attack that killed three of Friday's attackers.
"Everything depends on the effort by the government after
this attack to reassure our international partners and the
friends of the country to continue to come here," said Idrissa
Nassa, chief executive of Coris Bank, a leading lender in
Burkina Faso.
"If the government can limit it to just one attack then I
think the climate of fear will dissipate quite quickly and
things will go back to normal," he added.
The stakes are high. Kabore campaigned on promises to revive
the economic and social fortunes of a landlocked country that
produces gold and cotton but remains impoverished.
Political uncertainty has slowed an economy already hurt by
a fall in global gold prices, but one senior security official
said the attack would put security at the top of the public
agenda.
Former President Thomas Sankara, who was murdered in the
1987 coup that brought Compaore to power, remains a hero in the
country that he named Burkina Faso - meaning "The land of the
upstanding people" - and his image is plastered on walls around
Ouagadougou.
Sankara himself took power in a coup in 1983 and pursued a
philosophy of Marxism and pan-Africanism that led him to be
called "Africa's Che Guevara". Many African intellectuals view
him as a visionary.
Adama Ouedraogo, who teaches philosophy at a high school in
the capital, said Sankara's revolutionary spirit was shown in
the 2014 uprising and would now help the country overcome the
militant threat.
"The Burkinabe people are proud to be able to give their
contribution to the government," he said. "I think the Burkinabe
people are prepared to contribute to develop their country."