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West Africa

ECOWAS team in Burkina Faso to assess the ground-level security situation

May 20, 2022

(4 minutes read)

A 16-member ECOWAS delegation has been in Ouagadougou, the capital city of Burkina Faso since Tuesday, May 17 to continue its analysis of the national situation since the military assumed powers. The delegation is led by the Ghanaian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Shirley Ayorkor Botchway, and the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Jean-Claude Kassi Bro. The other members of the delegation are experts in the military and security, humanitarian and political fields. The delegation is expected to provide a report to ECOWAS for the assessment of the national situation.

Burkina Faso has been suspended from ECOWAS since the coup. Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba assumed powers after the coup that had happened in late January. The junta has set a three-year transition period before elections are held. But ECOWAS insists the duration should be reduced since they feel that the three-year transition was too long. It is putting pressure on Burkina Faso to give a reasonable timetable for the transition by 25 April, which was already expired. But Junta asked for more time. Subsequently, the ruling junta asked for military, political, and humanitarian missions from ECOWAS to assess the national situation. The junta insists that before deciding on ECOWAS’s request to shorten the transition period, a delegation should visit the country to assess the prevailing situation.

Also Read:

https://trendsnafrica.com/burkina-faso-and-guinea-ask-for-more-time-for-transition-to-civilian-rule-from-ecowas/

https://trendsnafrica.com/burkina-faso-rejects-ecowas-plea-for-earlier-transition-to-civilian-government/

https://trendsnafrica.com/burkina-faso-announces-a-new-cabinet-set-a-time-frame-of-3-years-for-transition/

Since 2015, Burkina Faso has been in the grip of a spate of violence attributed to armed jihadist movements affiliated with Al-Qaeda. The atrocities let loose by the terrorist group had a heavy toll on the country causing the death of more than 2,000 people and 1.8 million displaced.