Lieutenant-Colonel Damiba, who took power in a coup on January 24, had called for a meeting with former Burkinabè presidents, in which only two of them participated, including Mr. Compaoré, who returned on Thursday in his country after 8 years of exile for the occasion.
The stated objective was to seal “national reconciliation” in order to fight more effectively against the deadly jihadist violence which has multiplied in recent months in Burkina.
“This meeting focused mainly on the search for lasting peace in our country,” Damiba said in a statement after the meeting. “We are convinced that it is only in social cohesion and unity that the forces fighting terrorism at this very moment will be more determined and more successful,” he added.
The head of the junta spoke alongside the two former heads of state who responded favorably to his invitation: Jean-Baptiste Ouedraogo (1982-1983) and Blaise Compaoré, president from 1987 to 2014 before being forced to leave. exile in Côte d’Ivoire following a popular uprising.
Isaac Zida who briefly took power in 2014 and is currently in exile in Canada, Michel Kafando (2014-2015) and Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, elected in 2015 before being overthrown in January, were also invited.
– “Scary, dramatic” –
MM. Compaoré and Ouedraogo published a press release at the end of the afternoon in which they underlined that the meeting with Mr. Damiba “was solely intended to consult on the common peril which threatens us even to our very existence, as Nation, as a State”.
“When armed violence pushes nearly two million of our compatriots to flee their homes to find refuge elsewhere in the country, when terrorists kill and loot our compatriots with impunity and the survivors still largely depend on humanitarian assistance , to reconquer the occupied territories, to restore the authority of the State is the absolute urgency”, they estimate.
They note that “no region of our country is spared. And we learned recently that more than half of our territory is out of control: it’s frightening, it’s dramatic”.
It is thanks to “overcoming political, generational, ethnic, religious and other traditional beliefs that we will succeed in rebuilding together the foundations of the country in a patriotic leap”, they say.
The return of Mr. Compaoré, who reigned for 27 years over his country, has drawn much criticism: he was sentenced in absentia on April 6 to life imprisonment for his role in the assassination of his predecessor Thomas Sankara, pan-African icon, during the coup that brought him to power in 1987.
Dozens of demonstrators gathered in the morning in Ouagadougou in front of the home of ousted President Kaboré to prevent him from participating in the meeting of former presidents and Mr. Damiba.
– “Masquerade” –
“Faced with the growing controversy, (on the return of Mr. Compaoré, editor’s note) preparing me to go to the meeting, I found myself in the situation where in front of my door, people were mobilized, demanding that I not go to this meeting”, declared Mr. Kaboré to explain his absence, during a press conference at his home, held after the meeting.
But, he said, “as heads of state we must show wisdom, respect opinions and seek the best paths towards reconciliation”, adding: “I welcome President Damiba’s intervention.”
“Kaboré don’t move!” chanted his supporters in front of his house.
“It is not the role of Damiba who made a coup d’etat to reconcile people. It is not a reconciliation, it is a masquerade”, affirmed with AFP, Boukari Conombo, president of the Brassard noir, a civil society movement, also present in front of Mr. Kaboré’s home.
Because within certain organizations of civil society and lawyers, the presence of Mr. Compaoré on Burkinabe soil was also difficult to pass.
Prosper Farama, member of the collective of lawyers of Thomas Sankara, estimated that “the putschists, because that is what they should be called, pseudo reconcilers, are simply trying to assassinate the rule of law, democracy in Burkina. There is no other reading to do”.
The Patriotic Front, which brings together some twenty organizations and political parties, recalled that an “international arrest warrant has been issued against” Mr. Compaoré, “who has never deigned to appear before the courts” and who “should be immediately arrested and taken” to prison.
