PRESIDENT JONATHAN, OTHER ECOWAS LEADERS HEAD TO OUAGADOUGOU FOR CRISIS TALKS

PRESIDENT JONATHAN, OTHER ECOWAS LEADERS HEAD TO OUAGADOUGOU FOR CRISIS TALKS

President Goodluck Jonathan will travel to Ouagadougou tomorrow as a member of the three-man delegation of Heads of State and Government raised by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to facilitate the rapid resolution of the current political crisis in Burkina Faso.

Other members of the delegation of ECOWAS leaders are President Macky Sall of Senegal and President John Mahama of Ghana who is the current Chairman of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government.

During their one-day visit to Ouagadougou, President Jonathan and his Ghanaian and Senegalese counterparts are expected to meet with Burkina Faso's interim Head of State, Lt.-Col. Isaac Zida, opposition leaders, members of civil society and other political stakeholders in the country.

Recent political turmoil in Burkina Faso led to the resignation of former President Blaise Compaore and the assumption of power by Lt.-Col. Zida

The African Union's democratic charter requires its 54 member-states to act against the forceful overthrow of elected governments on the continent.

The Union has given the Burkina Faso military an ultimatum to transfer power back to a civilian administration within two weeks or face sanctions.

President Jonathan will be accompanied to Ouagadougou by the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Dr. Nurudeen Mohammed and some of his principal aides and advisers.
 
Reuben Abati
Special Adviser to the President
(Media & Publicity)
November 4, 2014