ECOWAS canceled Burkina Faso visit after military president’s inauguration
West African leaders canceled their planned visit to Burkina Faso to meet with coup leader Paul-Henri Damiba, rather than sending a team of ministers in the coming days, the region’s main political bloc said on Thursday.
Damiba, who was inaugurated as interim president for three years, led a group of officers to oust President Roch Kabore in January, saying they were motivated by frustration about mounting violence by Islamist militants.
ECOWAS did not send a representative to Damiba’s inauguration ceremony.
Burkina Faso’s military coup was the fourth in West Africa in 18 months, following two in Mali and one in Guinea.
International partners have sanctioned Burkina Faso’s western neighbor Mali for delaying planned elections. ECOWAS has also put heavy sanctions on Guinea because of failure to comply with a six-month deadline to propose an election timetable after the military seized.
