West African heads of state are set to travel to Ouagadougou to reinstall the country’s deposed interim leader in a bid to find a peaceful end to the political crisis in Burkina Faso.
The presidents of several African nations were due to travel to Burkina Faso’s capital on a mission to negotiate the peaceful roll-back of a coup by presidential guard soldiers last week, it was announced on Tuesday (September 22).
After extensive meetings in Abuja, six presidents from the West African regional bloc ECOWAS member states along with officials from the United Nations are due in Burkina Faso’s capital, Ouagadougou, early on Wednesday (September 23) to reinstall deposed Interim President Michel Kafando, said the ECOWAS Commission President, Kadre Desire Ouedraogo.
“They have decided to dispatch tomorrow a high committee composed of the heads of six ECOWAS member states to go to Ouagadougou to reinstall President Mitchel Kafandou in his capacity as president of the transition and to convey a solidarity message from ECOWAS to the Burkinabe people,” Ouedraogo told reporters after the meeting late on Tuesday.
The leaders were in a closed door meeting to discuss a 12-point plan that Senegalese President Macky Sall, the current ECOWAS head, had announced as a draft deal on Sunday (September 20), which included an amnesty for the coup leaders.
“They have decided to deploy military and humanitarian observers in order to monitor the respect of human rights in Burkina Faso, so these are more or less the main decisions they have taken. Of course they have also invited the chairman of the authority in liaison with the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to initiate a political dialogue among all the stakeholders in Burkina Faso with a view to finding lasting solutions to the political crisis in the country,” added Ouedraogo.
The elite guards behind the coup in Burkina Faso defied an ultimatum on Tuesday to surrender to regular troops loyal to the government, leading to a stand-off in the capital as they awaited a mediation mission by regional leaders.
Loyalist forces marched into Ouagadougou overnight saying they would disarm the 1,200-strong presidential guard, whose putsch just weeks before an October 11 poll threatens to derail a transition back to democracy after last year’s overthrow of long-time leader Blaise Compaore.
But even after a 10 a.m deadline to surrender passed, coup leader General Gilbert Diendere stood firm, saying he would await West African regional leaders’ mediation efforts.
Last year, mass street protests toppled Compaore as he attempted to force through changes to the constitution to extend his 27-year rule. In the process, Burkina Faso had become a beacon for democratic aspirations in Africa, where veteran rulers in countries from Rwanda to Congo Republic are seeking to scrap term limits.
Diendere, Compaore’s former intelligence chief and right-hand man, said he had acted to prevent the disbandment of the presidential guard and to block a decision to prevent Compaore’s allies standing in the election.
Overnight, he freed Prime Minister Yacouba Isaac Zida, who had been held captive since soldiers stormed a cabinet meeting on Wednesday. Interim President Michel Kafando, who had been released earlier, took refuge on Monday night in the French ambassador’s residence.
Ouedraogo urged the presidential guard to disarm and the army to refrain from using force.
In a statement, he also asked the African Union and others not to implement sanctions on Burkina, saying the coup leaders appeared willing to restore the interim government.
Burkina Faso, a former French colony, is an ally of the United States and France in their fight against Islamist militants in the region, and hosts some 200 French special forces.
