West African leaders hold emergency summit over Burkina Faso

KIGALI, Rwanda/ ACCRA, Ghana

West African leaders on Thursday demanded that the military junta in Burkina Faso provide a timetable to steer the country back to constitutional order.

The leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) met in Ghana’s capital Accra to examine the political situation in Burkina Faso following the Jan. 24 coup that deposed President Roch Marc Kabore as well as other countries which have recently witnessed military coups.

ECOWAS Commission President Jean-Claude Kassi Brou said the summit decided to maintain the suspension of Burkina Faso from ECOWAS governing institutions and reiterated its demand for the immediate unconditional release of Kabore.

“The heads of state asked the military authorities in Burkina Faso to rapidly propose a timetable for the restoration of constitutional order,” Brou told a news conference.

The summit stressed the need to stop military coups in the region because it creates more problems than it solves and it is against the basic ECOWAS principle of good governance and democracy, he added.

Meanwhile, on Guinea-Bissau, where soldiers attempted to overthrow President Umaro Sissoco Embalo on Tuesday, the summit decided to send a stabilization force to the capital Bissau to help stabilize the country, Brou said.

Following the leaders’ virtual summit on Jan. 28, on Saturday, a high-level mission of the ECOWAS Committee of Chiefs of Defense Staff was sent to Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, to hold consultations with military leaders.

This was followed on Monday by a joint ministerial mission led by the chairwoman of the ECOWAS Council of Ministers and Ghana's Foreign Minister Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey to assess the political situation in the country.

Thursday’s emergency talks assessed the outcome of the two missions to Burkina Faso.

Earlier while opening the summit, Nana Akufo-Addo, Ghana’s president and chairman of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS, described coups in the region as a cancer that needs a sustainable solution.

“Your presence here is a strong indication of your willingness to find a sustainable solution to the resurgence of cancer in our region. Let us address this dangerous trend collectively and decisively before it devastates the whole region,” he said.

Burkina Faso became the third member of the 15-nation ECOWAS bloc to be overtaken by the military in less than two years after Mali and Guinea.

“The resurgence of coup d'etats in our region is a matter of grave concern. This revolution challenges the democratic way of life we have chosen. We need to stand firm to protect democracy and freedom in our region,” Akufo-Addo added.

Like Mali and Guinea, ECOWAS suspended Burkina Faso from its governing bodies after the military overthrew President Kabore.

Mali has witnessed two subsequent coups, in August 2020 and May 2021, and in Guinea, the military overthrew President Alpha Conde last September.

ECOWAS has already imposed sanctions on Mali and Guinea for delaying to restore constitutional order.

The latest summit asked Malian authorities to provide a new “acceptable” election timetable to ECOWAS which will be the basis of a gradual lifting of the sanctions imposed on the regime.

The junta in Burkina Faso has pledged to re-establish constitutional order within a “reasonable time.”

Kabore was detained and later resigned following the coup.

ECOWAS said the military had obtained his resignation under duress and demanded his immediate release. ​​​​​​​