Guinea's pressure groups in Burkina Faso for consultations to end crisis
Guinea's pressure groups in Burkina Faso for consultations to end crisis
16:35, November 04, 2009 
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Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore on Tuesday held discussions with pressure groups from Guinea to end the political crisis lingering on since December.
The talks is part of the plan unveiled by Compaore during his trip early last month to Guinea to find a way out of the impasse, which was complicated by the Sept. 28 bloodshed in the confrontation between the military junta and its opponents.
Compaore, the mediator appointed by the Economic Community for West African States (ECOWAS), invited both sides to talks in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso.
After his mission to Guinea, Compaore held talks with a delegation sent by the Guinean military junta leader, Moussa Dadis Camara in Ouagadougou.
On Tuesday, pressure groups from Guinea began their round of talks with Compaore after arriving on Nov. 1 on how to end the crisis following the Sept. 28 clash, which they said left more than 150 people dead against the toll of 57 reported by the military junta.
At the end of their talks with Compaore, the president of the party of Democratic Forces in Guinea (FDG), Mamadou Moctar Diallo, indicated that this first one-on-one meeting with the facilitator gave hope that the situation in Guinea would improve.
President Compaore, who has called for dialogue as the only way out of the crisis, asked the pressure groups to come up with concrete propositions on how to form a transitional body, not only for the management of transition, but the electoral process.
The original plan to hold a presidential vote on Jan. 31 was scuttled by the Sept. 28 bloodshed, although the elections are still being seen as the only solution to the crisis, which erupted hours after the death of president Lansana Conte on Dec. 23, with the military junta seizing power.
Moctar Diallo asked the facilitator to give them two or three days so that they can agree on the propositions.
Aboubacar Sylla, who is in charge of communication for the pressure groups, said the most urgent thing is security for political, religious and trade union leaders and the general population.
The opposition coalition reiterated their demand for the departure of Camara and the junta from power since they considered them the biggest problem for Guinea.
Before the opening of this meeting, Camara had called on the Guinean people to hold frank and sincere dialogue to get the country out of the crisis.
Observers fear that the push by the international community to the junta to give up power may end up hardening its stance since its members know that if they leave power, they will face international tribunals.
ECOWAS on Oct. 17 imposed an arms embargo on Guinea and the African Union declared sanctions late last month, including travel restrictions on the junta and freeze on assets of Camara and his collaborators.
Source: Xinhua
The talks is part of the plan unveiled by Compaore during his trip early last month to Guinea to find a way out of the impasse, which was complicated by the Sept. 28 bloodshed in the confrontation between the military junta and its opponents.
Compaore, the mediator appointed by the Economic Community for West African States (ECOWAS), invited both sides to talks in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso.
After his mission to Guinea, Compaore held talks with a delegation sent by the Guinean military junta leader, Moussa Dadis Camara in Ouagadougou.
On Tuesday, pressure groups from Guinea began their round of talks with Compaore after arriving on Nov. 1 on how to end the crisis following the Sept. 28 clash, which they said left more than 150 people dead against the toll of 57 reported by the military junta.
At the end of their talks with Compaore, the president of the party of Democratic Forces in Guinea (FDG), Mamadou Moctar Diallo, indicated that this first one-on-one meeting with the facilitator gave hope that the situation in Guinea would improve.
President Compaore, who has called for dialogue as the only way out of the crisis, asked the pressure groups to come up with concrete propositions on how to form a transitional body, not only for the management of transition, but the electoral process.
The original plan to hold a presidential vote on Jan. 31 was scuttled by the Sept. 28 bloodshed, although the elections are still being seen as the only solution to the crisis, which erupted hours after the death of president Lansana Conte on Dec. 23, with the military junta seizing power.
Moctar Diallo asked the facilitator to give them two or three days so that they can agree on the propositions.
Aboubacar Sylla, who is in charge of communication for the pressure groups, said the most urgent thing is security for political, religious and trade union leaders and the general population.
The opposition coalition reiterated their demand for the departure of Camara and the junta from power since they considered them the biggest problem for Guinea.
Before the opening of this meeting, Camara had called on the Guinean people to hold frank and sincere dialogue to get the country out of the crisis.
Observers fear that the push by the international community to the junta to give up power may end up hardening its stance since its members know that if they leave power, they will face international tribunals.
ECOWAS on Oct. 17 imposed an arms embargo on Guinea and the African Union declared sanctions late last month, including travel restrictions on the junta and freeze on assets of Camara and his collaborators.
Source: Xinhua
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