OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso: Three West African presidents visited Burkina Faso on Wednesday to join the international effort to press military leaders to quickly return to the country to civilian rule.
Opposition protests forced President Blaise Compaore to resign last week, saying 27 years in power was enough for the semi-authoritarian leader. Burkina Faso’s military then stepped in, designating Lt. Col. Isaac Yacouba Zida as the transitional leader.
But the international community wants the military to swiftly return the country to constitutional rule. On Monday, the African Union, representing 53 countries on the continent, gave Burkina Faso two weeks to do so or face sanctions.
The international community is ramping up pressure to try to reach a quick solution and avoid chaos or prolonged martial rule in Burkina Faso. Representatives from the African Union and the United Nations have been in talks with the opposition, the military and other stakeholders in recent days.
On Wednesday, Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan, Senegal’s President Macky Sall and Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama arrived to continue the discussions.
Under Compaore, Burkina Faso was a center of relative stability in a volatile region and an important ally of the West in the fight against militants in the area.
African leaders press Burkina Faso on civilian rule
African leaders press Burkina Faso on civilian rule
Machado says Venezuelan elections could happen this year, Politico reports
- “We have a legitimate leadership with huge popular support and our armed forces are also supportive of a transition to democracy,” Machado told Politico
- Trump in January said he was considering getting Machado “involved some way“
WASHINGTON: Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said she believed elections could be held in her country later this year, speaking to Politico in an interview released on Thursday.
“We believe that a real transferring process with manual voting … could be done in nine to 10 months,” Machado said. “But, well, that depends when you start.”
Machado, whose party said it won 70 percent of the vote in Venezuela’s 2024 election, met with President Donald Trump and spoke with his top diplomat and US lawmakers last month following the US capture of the country’s longtime leader Nicolas Maduro.
“We have a legitimate leadership with huge popular support and our armed forces are also supportive of a transition to democracy,” she told Politico.
Trump in January said he was considering getting Machado “involved some way” even as he has backed Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez.
Machado told Politico that she had not yet spoken to Trump about the election process. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told US lawmakers at a Jan. 28 hearing that Venezuela’s new leaders were moving toward closer ties with Washington before meeting with Machado later that day.
US intelligence reports have questioned whether Rodriguez is fully on board with the strategy for her country and if she intends to formally cut ties with US adversaries, Reuters reported last month.
