Ouagadougou – The head of Burkina Faso’s ruling junta on Tuesday met the president he overthrew in a coup this year, for talks to try to “defuse” the political situation, the presidency said.
Roch Marc Christian Kabore, the elected president until his ousting in January, was accompanied by another former president Jean-Baptiste Ouedraogo during the meeting at the presidential palace.
The three men discussed “security matters, the management of the transition and other issues of national interest”, the presidency said in a statement.
It is the “start of a series of actions with a view to defusing the political situation”, it added.
The meeting demonstrated the new leader’s “desire for reconciliation” and for “a united, determined and supportive Burkina in the fight against the terrorist hydra”, the statement said.
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Like Mali and neighbouring Niger, Burkina is caught in a spiral of violence blamed largely on jihadists linked to the Islamic State group or al-Qaeda.
The new regime led by junta leader Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba has vowed to restore security, blaming Kabore for not having done enough to repel armed jihadist groups.
It says it needs three years to rebuild the country in the face of the jihadist insurgency before it can organise democratic elections.
The bloodshed has continued, however.
Earlier this month, more than 80 civilians were killed in the northern commune of Seytenga in the country’s second deadliest attack ever.
Kabore was moved from house arrest to his own home in the capital Ouagadougou in early April following the January coup.
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Source: AFP
Picture: Twitter/@portaldeangola
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