Mediator: Ousted Burkina Faso leader offers resignation
LA TimesSoldiers loyal to Capt. Ibrahim Traore, Burkina Faso’s new junta leader, are cheered in the streets of Ouagadougou, the capital, on Sunday. Burkina Faso’s ousted coup leader has offered his resignation as long as his security and other conditions were met, and the new junta leader who overthrew him has accepted the deal, religious leaders mediating the West African nation’s latest political crisis said Sunday. Along with agreeing not to harm or prosecute him, Damiba also asked Traore and the new junta leadership to respect the commitments already made to the West African regional bloc ECOWAS. To some in Burkina Faso’s military, Damiba also was seen as too cozy with former colonizer France, which maintains a military presence in Africa’s Sahel region to help countries fight Islamic extremists.