ACCRA, Ghana (AP) — West African neighbor states on Friday suspended Burkina Faso within the aftermath of this week’s coup, making it the third nation within the regional bloc to be punished for a navy takeover in solely 18 months, officers mentioned.
The announcement from the bloc referred to as ECOWAS got here days after greater than a dozen mutinous troopers went on state tv in Burkina Faso to announce their navy takeover of the nation — that’s beneath siege from Islamic extremist assaults.
ECOWAS had suspended neighboring Mali after a coup there in August 2020 after which took comparable motion in opposition to Guinea after the president was overthrown final September.
Mali can be beneath punishing financial sanctions, together with flight bans and asset freezes, after its coup chief failed to prepare elections inside 18 months as promised.
West African leaders met nearly Friday to debate the Burkina Faso coup, and a delegation was anticipated to journey to Ouagadougou within the coming days.
Ghanaian President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the present ECOWAS chairman, known as the latest spate of coups in West Africa “a direct violation of our democratic tenets.”
“The remainder of the world is trying as much as us to be agency on this matter,” he mentioned.
ECOWAS has confronted criticism for its dealing with of the coups, notably in Mali the place mediators negotiated with the junta on the 18-month deadline for holding democratic elections. Mali’s coup chief has mentioned that received’t be met, citing safety situations, and has introduced a vote 4 years from now as a substitute.
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Mednick reported from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.