The presidents of Nigeria, Ghana and Senegal flew into Ouagadougou after Canada suspended its aid to the impoverished west African nation and other nations considered similar moves.

Lieutenant-Colonel Isaac Zida, the interim leader appointed by Burkina Faso’s military, told unions on Tuesday that he would return the country to civilian rule within two weeks, a day after the African Union threatened sanctions if the army failed to relinquish power within that timeframe.

The military has filled the power vacuum left by Compaore, who was deposed Friday after 27 years in power by a violent popular uprising that some had likened to the Arab Spring.

There was little ceremony as the leaders — Nigeria’s Goodluck Jonathan, Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama and Macky Sall of Senegal — were driven to a luxury hotel near the presidential palace for the talks with Zida, an AFP reporter said.

The three presidents later met leaders of opposition parties, democracy groups and senior legal officials, with one party leader afterwards calling for a transition government led by a civil society figure rather than a politician or military chief.

Former prime minister Roch Marc Christian Kabore, leader of the Movement of the People for Progress, said: “It’s obvious we have to find someone who has no clear political affiliations so as not to have a biased view on the transition.”

The leaders were also meeting with civil society and religious groups in a bid to find a rapid end to the crisis.
The army’s decision to take the reins in the aftermath of Compaore’s exit sparked angry protests at home and prompted threats of sanctions from abroad.

But top brass claimed that “power does not interest us” and pledged to install a unity government with a “broad consensus”.

Zida has repeated the promise in meetings with opposition and civil society leaders as well as foreign envoys.
“If everyone agrees, there is no reason that the transition (from military rule) shouldn’t be done within two weeks,” Zida said on Tuesday, according to union leader Joseph Tiendrebeogo.

Mogho Naba, the “king” of Burkina Faso’s leading Mossi tribe, told AFP he had met Zida on Tuesday.
“They came to tell us that they would hand back power to civilians,” he said. “The country should regain peace and quiet.”

The army has made similar pledges over the past couple of days, without taking concrete action.
Under the constitution, which has been suspended, the parliament speaker was supposed to take over as transitional leader.

But the whereabouts of current speaker Soungalo Ouattara, a close Compaore ally, are unknown.

The post Jonathan, Sall, Mahama urge Burkina army to handover power appeared first on New Mail Nigeria.

The state-owned Graphic newspaper on Tuesday quoted him as saying in London that the government would critically weigh the options before arriving at any decision on whether to host the tournament or not.

The Confederation of Africa Football has written to Ghana to consider hosting the tournament, following the request by the original host, Morocco, for a postponement due to the outbreak of Ebola which has killed some 4,500 people in West Africa.

He said, “We will take the best interest of Ghanaians at heart. As President, I don’t want to see Ebola spread to my country.

“And so, if Morocco expresses concern about the Ebola disease, for which they want postponement, we are going to look at that carefully before we take a decision whether to host AFCON or not.”

He noted that Morocco had not officially pulled out “and so that is not an issue”.

Mahama said the Youth and Sports Minister Mahama Ayariga had explained to him that the government would have to consult with the health authorities on the threats before taking a decision on AFCON.

Mahama, however, indicated that Ghana was going ahead with its bid for the 2017 tournament because the country had the wherewithal to host it.

Ghanaian doctors have been leading a chorus of organisations and individuals to kick against the country hosting the 2015 AFCON tournament in January.

They warn that it will be risky to accept CAF’s request because of the dangers of Ebola on the population.

The Deputy General Secretary of the Ghana Medical Association, Dr Justice Yankson, said last Friday that all stakeholders need to look at the CAF request properly before a decision is taken.

He said, “If people are going to be here for more than or close to a month, some could come in at a point where they do not have a full blown infection or are not exhibiting the symptoms.

“But the symptoms could come in after they have already entered the country. That is something we need to think about.

“Before we take a final decision, we really need to sit down and do our homework well.”

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