Call for one-year transition period in Burkina Faso

Three West African presidents have urged Burkina Faso to appoint a transitional government to guide the country to elections next year following the people's overthrow of longtime ruler Blaise Compaoré last week.

Ghana's president John Dramani Mahama led the delegation from the Economic Community Of West African States (Ecowas) to help Burkina Faso plot a path to a civilian-led transition after the military named a senior army officer as head of state on Saturday.

Mr Mahama, the Ecowas chairman, held talks today with Lieut Col Isaac Zida, opposition politicians, Mr Compaoré's supporters, religious leaders and civil society groups. There was a general consensus in favour of a civilian-led interim government, he said.

“There were going to be elections next year. We believe that we should just work with that election date, which is next November,” he said. “This means there will be a transitional government for one year and a new president will be elected.”

Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan and Senegalese leader Macky Sall, part of the Ecowas delegation, agreed with the timetable, Mr Mahama said.

Interim presidency

Delegates from the meetings with Mr Mahama said that all the separate groups had been asked to select three candidates for the interim presidency, which would be discussed in a plenary meeting later yesterday. Mr Mahama said the presidents had recommended that members of the interim authority be permitted to stand in the elections next year.

Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets last Thursday when Mr Compaoré tried to force through parliament a constitutional reform to allow him to seek re-election next year.

He resigned the next day as the sometimes violent protests continued and was forced to flee to neighbouring Ivory Coast with the help of France.

Mr Mahama said regional leaders had attempted to talk Mr Compaoré out of the plan to change the national charter to extend his 27-year rule. “When our colleague decided to do what he wanted to do, I can assure you that several of us spoke with him and advised that it was not a proper thing to do,” he said.

Curfew

The military stepped in following Mr Compaoré’s departure, dissolving the national assembly and imposing a curfew.

It then appointed Lieut Col Zida, deputy commander of the presidential guard, as provisional head of state on Saturday. He announced the suspension of Burkina Faso’s 1991 constitution.

Amid mounting international pressure for a civilian to take the reins of the transition, Lieut Col Zida promised on Monday to quickly cede power to a transitional government.

Burkina Faso has assumed a strategic importance in recent years. Despite a chequered past including accusations he backed rebels during the civil wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone, Mr Compaoré had reinvented himself as a regional power broker and Western ally against Islamist militants.

France has a special forces unit based there as part of its regional counter-terrorism operation and also uses it as a base for surveillance drones.

Senior advisors to Mr Compaoré negotiated the release, often for multimillion-dollar ransoms, of numerous Western hostages seized in the region. The country also played a mediation role in the crises in neighbouring Mali and Ivory Coast.

Reuters