Mediator Signals Progress in Burkina Coup Talks; Announcement Sunday

As a youth-led continental movement working to promote the social and political development of Africa, the Young African Leaders Forum (YALF) rebukes the organizers of the coup, which started last Wednesday with the arrest of the interim president and prime minister.

The presidential and legislative elections were supposed to mark the end of the transitional government, installed after president Blaise Compaore was toppled in a popular uprising in October 2014 after 27 years in power.

Young people wielding sticks and slingshots dragged railway fences into the streets of Ouagadougou to block soldiers loyal to coup leader General Gilbert Diendere, who is facing intense diplomatic pressure over Thursday´s putsch.

Late Friday night, after a full day of meetings in Ouagadougou, Sall called for “a dynamic of reconciliation”. But transition officials have insisted that the junta needs to leave.

Benin’s President Thomas Boni Yayi, who had been mediating alongside Sall, said on Saturday that Sunday’s talks were expected to lead to the reinstatement of President Michel Kafando’s interim government.

Speaking on state TV and radio early Thursday before a blue background, Lt. Col. Mamadou Bamba said the country’s transitional government was dissolved and the interim president was no longer in power.

At least 10 people have been killed and more than 100 injured in the crackdown on anti-coup demonstrations in recent days, a worker at the Yalgado Ouedraogo Hospital in Ouagadougou said Saturday. “We must create a dynamic of national reconciliation…to allow the country to reposition itself on its path and on its march to democracy”, Sall said.

The statement said Cairo is looking forward to the success of regional and global efforts aiming to restore stability to that country in order to hold the presidential elections and resume the transitional phase.

Mr Diendere’s junta has claimed that Mr Kafando was excluding Mr Compaore’s supporters from taking part in elections set for October 11.

Egypt called on all forces in Burkina Faso to maintain the supreme interest of the country, and the preservation of the lives of citizens.

Even with the AU’s opposition to the coup and civil society’s mobilisation in several towns across Burkina Faso, Diendere and the RSP have proven that they are willing to overturn what was once a hopeful situation in one of the poorest countries in the world in order to ensure their own survival.

Presidential guard members arrive at the Laico hotel in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, September 20, 2015.

“What we want is for Diendere to stay and organise elections quickly like he promised”. Burkina Faso has been suspended from the African Union.