African diplomats descended on Burkina Faso on Saturday to ensure a deal is sealed calling for Guinea’s injured leader to step down and for his country to hold democratic elections within six months.
Arriving in Ouagadougou, Liberian President Ellen Sirleaf hailed the accord and said that she felt compelled to travel there because instability in Guinea could threaten the entire region.
She joined a delegation from Ecowas, a regional bloc representing 15 West African nations, whose leaders also rushed to Ouagadougou following the signing on Friday of the landmark accord there.
The agreement calls for Guinean leader Captain Moussa “Dadis” Camara who suffered a bullet wound during an assassination attempt, to go into voluntary exile and to allow his deputy to organise elections in order to hand over power to civilians.
“I have to be concerned because Guinea is our neighbour,” Sirleaf said at the airport.
“If any problem happens in Guinea, it would affect Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia and Sierra Leone … We want to see peace in our sub-region,” she said.
The breakthrough deal calling for Mr. Camara to go into exile comes six weeks after he was shot by his aide-de-camp.
Source: www.news24.com, 20100117
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