Burkina Faso: Former President Blaise Compaoré is back in Ouagadougou

Former Burkinabè President Blaise Compaoré lives in exile in Côte d'Ivoire, here in Abidjan on October 10, 2016. AFP - ISSOUF SANOGO

Text by: RFI Follow

2 mins

The former president of Burkina Faso has lived in exile in Abidjan since 2014. This Thursday, July 7, 2022, a plane was made available to him by the Ivorian authorities.

Blaise Compaoré must attend, this Friday, the meeting of former heads of state.

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The plane carrying the former president landed in the middle of the afternoon at the Ouagadougou air base.

A helicopter then arrived to take the former head of state directly to the presidency.

This trip

had been prepared to the millimeter upstream between the Ivorian presidency and the Burkinabe transitional regime.

Discussions have been taking place between Ouagadougou and Abidjan for a long time to consider a return of Blaise Compaoré to his country.

Return compromised by the January putsch then by the Sankara trial and the sentencing of Compaoré to life imprisonment. 

That being said, the junta has relaunched this reconciliation file and resumed contact with Côte d'Ivoire on the Compaoré case.

Everything accelerated last weekend.

Arriving in Accra

for the ECOWAS summit

, Alassane Ouattara receives an emissary from Ouagadougou, the Minister of State for Reconciliation, Yéro Boly who informs him of the forthcoming holding of this famous meeting of former heads of state, as part of a reconciliation process.  

Then, many contacts have been made in recent days.

Alassane Ouattara has dispatched emissaries to the Burkinabè capital.

For the Ivorian president, it was necessary to ensure that Blaise Compaoré, therefore sentenced to life imprisonment in the Sankara trial in April, does not risk anything by treading the soil of his country. 

" 

It's a far-reaching act of national reconciliation,

" said a source at the Ivorian presidency

.

President Compaoré fears nothing on returning.

All assurances have been given that his safety and dignity will be saved

 , ”she adds. 

A return to the country which is not definitive.

According to our information, he will return to Abidjan on Sunday at the latest.

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  • Burkina Faso

  • Blaise Compaore

  • Ivory Coast