Burkina Faso’s ex-President Blaise Compaore has returned from exile almost eight years after he was toppled in an uprising, to meet interim President Paul-Henri Damiba and other former leaders. Burkina Faso’s leader Damiba, who took power in a January coup, has invited Compaore and other ex-presidents to take part in a reconciliation summit on Friday amid rising insecurity linked to al-Qaeda and ISIS-affiliated armed groups in the north. Compaore, who ruled Burkina Faso for 27 years, fled to Ivory Coast during a 2014 uprising sparked by his efforts to change the constitution to allow himself to remain in power. Compaore, 71, returned home on Thursday despite being convicted in absentia in April to life in prison for complicity in the murder of his predecessor Thomas Sankara. Lawyers for Sankara’s family had demanded that Compaore be arrested on arrival, although Burkinabe media have speculated in recent days that he could be granted a pardon. In April, he was handed a life sentence for his role in the 1987 murder of Marxist revolutionary Sankara.
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA
More Stories
Tinubu Hits the Ground Running
Russian Minister Makes a Quick Stop in Nairobi
Four Men Absolved of Drug Trafficking in Liberia Disappear
Governments in Sub-Saharan Africa Struggle to Regulate the Mass Expansion of Online Gambling
Why Returns from European Countries are Hugely Unpopular in Most African Countries
A $3 billion IMF Bailout Will Not Instantly Solve Ghana’s Economic Problems
Can Kenya Successfully Establish Efficient and Affordable Smartphone Manufacturing?
How to Be a Female Politician in Africa
Egyptian Firm Unveils IoT-enabled Smartwatch
Women at the Forefront of Africa’s Peace Efforts
With ‘Banel & Adama,’ Ramata-Toulaye Sy Takes Her Place Among Cannes’ Top Names
The Lion Sleeps Tonight: One Song’s Journey from 1930s South Africa to Disney Money-Spinner