Burkina Faso and Guinea ask ECOWAS for more time to organize their transition

The flags of ECOWAS member countries during a summit of the organization in Accra, Ghana, on February 3, 2022. AFP - NIPAH DENNIS

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

On April 25, the ultimatum set by ECOWAS to Burkina Faso and Guinea to set transition timetables expired.

But Ouagadougou and Conakry are asking for a little more time to officially continue their consultations.

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The military in power in Guinea and Burkina Faso had until Monday, April 25 to present to

ECOWAS

(Economic Community of West African States) a " 

reasonable

 " timetable for returning power to civilians, under penalty of to see the Community tighten its sanctions.

The deadline was not met.

Burkina Faso

was the first to react, on April 22, according to a press release made public on Wednesday April 27 by the Commission of the West African organization.

The country requests " 

additional time from the deadline to continue consultations on various issues

 " pending.

Guinea

, for its part, sent its Minister of Foreign Affairs, Doctor Morissanda Kouyaté, to Accra, Ghana, on the last day of the ultimatum, to discuss and negotiate with Nana Akufo Ado, the current president of the Conference of Chiefs. of State of ECOWAS.

Its objective: to obtain, there too, more time compared to the fixed deadline, “ 

to allow the continuation of the consultations

 ” internal, always according to the press release of April 27.

ECOWAS announces its decision to send a mission which will discuss it with the authorities of each of the two countries.

These missions will then “ 

prepare a report for the

 decisive summit” of heads of state, scheduled for May.

But it won't be easy.

Burkina Faso continues to stick to its proposal for a

three-year transition

, while Guinea is still organizing to

discuss its timetable

.

ECOWAS statement on Burkina Faso and Guinea pic.twitter.com/ZVUi88HdGy

— ECOWAS-CEDEAO (@ecowas_cedeao) April 27, 2022

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  • Burkina Faso

  • Guinea

  • ECOWAS

  • Assimi Goita

  • Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba

  • Nana Akufo-Addo