The former president of Burkina Faso Blaise Compaoré, arrived Thursday, July 7 in Ouagadougou after eight years of exile in Côte d’Ivoire, to participate in a meeting of former Burkinabe heads of state with the new strongman of the country. , the putschist Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, learned AFP in the entourage of Mr. Compaoré and from an airport source.
The plane from the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire in which Mr. Compaoré was traveling landed at the military air base in Ouagadougou while dozens of his supporters were waiting for him at the capital’s civilian airport.
A stay of a few days
It is the first time that the former president has set foot on his country’s soil since he was forced into exile in Côte d’Ivoire in October 2014, after violent popular riots which broke out against his will to stay. in power after 27 years of rule.
However, it is not a question of a definitive return, but of a stay of a few days at the invitation of Lieutenant-Colonel Damiba, author of a coup d’etat in January.
Like the former Burkinabé presidents still alive, Mr. Compaoré must participate in a meeting to “accelerate national reconciliation” in the face of the jihadist attacks which have bloodied Burkina Faso since 2015 and have multiplied in recent months.
On April 6, Blaise Compaoré was sentenced in absentia in Burkina to life imprisonment for his role in the assassination of his predecessor Thomas Sankara, during a coup that brought him to power in 1987.
