ECOWAS leader and Guinea-Bissau President Umaro Sissoco Embalo have expressed support for Burkina Faso less than five months after an insurgency sparked by militants sparked a new coup, reported The Africa News.
Embalo visited Ouagadougou on Wednesday in a bid to offer his support to Burkina Faso in the face of jihadist violence. He had a meeting with Captain Ibrahim Traoré, the military leader turned transitional president who came to power on September 30, 2022 in a coup, the second in eight months.
“The current president of ECOWAS, who was reassured of the good conduct of the transition, reaffirmed the availability of the West African organization to support and accompany Burkina Faso in the fight against terrorism,” said a statement from the Presidency of Burkina Faso released after the meeting.
The statement added that Mr. Embalo has stressed the need to continue discussions with the heads of state of ECOWAS, and also with the various partners, to provide support as soon as possible to Burkina Faso which is facing security and humanitarian challenges.
Captain Traoré came to power after the overthrow of Lieutenant-Colonel Paul Henri Sandaogo Damiba, who had seized power the previous January. He vowed to fulfill the promises made by his predecessor to ECOWAS on the holding of elections and a return to civilian rule by July 2024.
Burkina Faso has been witnessing deadly attacks since 2015 by jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. The attacks have left thousands of people dead and displaced at least two million. They are also partly responsible for two military coups in 2022. More than a third of Burkina Faso’s territory currently lies outside of government control.
Other than Burkina Faso, Guinea and Mali also witnessed coups in recent years. The ECOWAS has suspended all three countries from the bloc’s decision-making bodies, invoking the threat of sanctions to try to speed up the return to civilian rule.
