By John Ikani
A delegation from the Economic Community of West African States arrived in Burkina Faso on Saturday, a security source said, one day after it suspended the country over the region’s latest coup.
The delegation composed of representatives from Benin, Togo and Ghana is led by ECOWAS peace and security commissioner Francis Behanzin of Benin.
The envoys evaluated the situation in the country and briefly discussed with Lieutenant-colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, the coup leader.
Earlier in the day, they held long talks with other members of the junta which seized power on Monday.
The junta “reaffirmed its commitment to sub-regional and international organisations”, ECOWAS said in a statement.
The aim of the delegation is to “evaluate the situation before the arrival of another mission next week”.
Ministerial-level ECOWAS envoys are expected to arrive in the Burkina Faso capital on Monday.
West African leaders will meet for a summit on February 3 in Ghana’s capital Accra to assess the outcome of the Burkina missions and to decide whether it should impose sanctions as it has done in Mali and Guinea.
Junta leader Damiba has only spoken once since seizing power, in a televised address on Thursday in which he asked for help from Burkina Faso’s “international partners”.
The coup is the latest bout of turmoil to strike Burkina Faso, a landlocked state that has suffered chronic instability since gaining independence from France in 1960.
A jihadist insurgency that spread over Mali’s border has killed more than 2,000 and forced 1.5 million to flee their homes since 2015.
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