Africa-Press – Botswana. The African Union (AU) appealed this Saturday to the international community to support the Transition Process in Burkina Faso, where a military coup took place in January, to guarantee security and hold elections.
“We call on the international community for Burkina Faso to face all security challenges,” said Union Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, Bankole Adeoye, at the end of a meeting with Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, now president of the Burkinabe Transitional Government.
Arriving in Ouagadougou on Wednesday, Bankole Adeoye leads an AU delegation that went to assess the Transition Process and the security and humanitarian situation in Burkina Faso, which has been confronted with jihadist violence for seven years.
“We made an assessment of the Process, especially the transition plan that will lead to the elections”, said Adeoye, stressing that “everyone has to work together, whether at the AU level, the G5 of the Sahel or the neighboring countries, “to deal with problems security, extremism and banditry”.
During the stay in Ouagadougou, which ended yesterday, the AU delegation met with the Prime Minister of Burkina Faso, Albert Ouédraogo, dialogued with African ambassadors in the country, members of civil society and religious leaders.
Since 2015, Burkina Faso has been plagued by attacks by jihadists with links to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS), which have resulted in thousands of deaths and nearly two million displaced.
At the end of January, Lieutenant Colonel Damiba overthrew President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré in a coup d’état, accusing him of failing to contain jihadist violence.
The rebels, who have stepped up attacks in the country this year, control about 60% of Burkina Faso’s territory, according to international institutions.
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