Jonathan in Burkina Faso to mediate in crisis

President Goodluck Jonathan would be travelling to Ouagadougou, capital of Burkina Faso, to intervene in the crisis that has engulfed the country in the last one week.

The country has been experiencing unrest ever since protesters succeeded in preventing the parliament from voting on a bill that would allow ousted President Blaise Compaore seek another five-year term despite spending 27 years in office.

However, President Goodluck Jonathan, alongside his Ghanian and Senegalese counterparts, are billed to engage the stakeholders in the West African nation in discussions targeted at restoring normalcy to the country.

Though protests were gradually reducing when Compaore stepped down, they regained momentum when the Burkinabe military seize power.

Honore Traore, the country’s army chief and Isaac Zida both separately announced taking over power, the latter receiving the backing of the army.

Demonstrators who returned to the streets demanded that the military relinquish power immediately.

On Monday, the African Union issued a two-week ultimatum to the military to hand over power to a civilian government or risk sanction.

However, Reuben Abati, spokesman of the Nigerian president, said ECOWAS had assigned Jonathan and the two other African leaders to the country in the interest of peace.

“President Goodluck Jonathan will travel to Ouagadougou tomorrow as a member of the three-man delegation of heads of state and government raised by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to facilitate the rapid resolution of the current political crisis in Burkina Faso,” Abati said in a statement on Tuesday.

“Other members of the delegation of ECOWAS leaders are President Macky Sall of Senegal and President John Mahama of Ghana (pictured with Jonathan) who is the current Chairman of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government.

“During their one-day visit to Ouagadougou, President Jonathan and his Ghanaian and Senegalese counterparts are expected to meet with Burkina Faso’s interim Head of State, Lt.-Col. Isaac Zida, opposition leaders, members of civil society and other political stakeholders in the country.”