President Muhammadu Buhari is to lead the delegation of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), to Burkina Faso to negotiate with the military junta with a view to restoring peace in the land following the coup d’ etat last week Thursday.
Other members of the delegation include the Presidents of Togo, Ghana, Benin and Senegal is to depart Wednesday.
This was part of the outcome of the regional body’s extraordinary meeting of the Heads of States and Government held at the instance of President Buhari.
The President of ECOWAS Commission, Mr. Ouedraogo Desire while addressing the press conference at the end of the meeting which lasted for eight hours held at the presidential wing of Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, said the body also called for the lifting of sanctions imposed on the country.
He also stated that ECOWAS called for cease fire among the forces, adding that military and humanitarian observers would be sent during the elections to forestall loss of human lives.
Desire said, “They have decided to despatch tomorrow a delegation of Head of State to go to Ougadaduguo, to reinstall Michael Karfando, in his function as president of the transition government of Burkina Faso.
“They have decided that the chairman of the authority in liason with the Federal Republic of Nigeria will initiate a political dialogue among all stakeholders with a view to finding concessional solutions to the items contained in the peace accord proposal presented by President Mackey Sall and President Boni Yayi.
“They called on the presidential guards to disarm and demanded the other unit of the army not to use force to avoid loss of human lives. They have also called on all the stakeholders to exercise patience and refrain from anything that can derail the national consensus.
“Finally, they have requested the AU and the international community in the view of the fact they have proposed the reinstallment of the transitional to lift the sanctions imposed on Burkina Faso or not to impose sanctions because we have come back to normal transitional position.
“So, we have decided also to send the military and humanitarian observers to Burkina Faso in liaison with AU and UN to monitor respect for human rights. So, these are the decisions the Summit has taken”.
-FRONTIERS NEWS
