President Blaise Compaore

Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo and his main rivals agreed Thursday in Ouagadougou to a new date for presidential elections early next years, days after the vote was postponed for a sixth time. Gbagbo, Prime Minister Guillaume Soro and the two opposition leaders, former president Henri Konan Bedie and former prime minister Alassane Ouattara, set a new date of late February, early January for the first round of voting, following talks with Burkina Faso's President Blaise Compaore. Compaore has been mediating the standoff since the Ivorian electoral commission last month acknowledged that a presidential election could not be held as planned on November 29, ... Read Full Story

Guinea's opposition on Friday rejected proposals to end political deadlock made by the mediator, President Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso, on the grounds that they ignored the will of Guinea's people. "The fundamental preoccupations of the Guinean people have not been taken into account," the opposition said in a statement, because Compaore suggested that junta leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara stay in power. The opposition has repeatedly insisted that Camara should relinquish power, following a massacre on September 28 of Guineans in a Conakry stadium when they turned out for a rally to oppose Camara's bid to stand for election in January next year. ... Read Full Story

Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore, who is mediating in Guinea's crisis, has recommended that junta leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara stay in power during a transition government, in a document seen by AFP Friday. While the opposition, which has repeatedly insisted that Camara should relinquish power, would not officially react on Friday, sources said they rejected the mediator's plans. In the document, Compaore proposes forming a national transition council led by Camara, who would be the head of state and the army's supreme commander, with a government chief from the opposition. "The national transition council will be charged with organizing presidential elections within 10 ... Read Full Story

Guinean junta leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara's candidacy in any fresh presidential elections is "not negotiable" in the current mediation talks, Communications Minister Idrissa Cherif said Sunday. "There are some issues which are not negotiable. One is the president's (Camara's) candidacy (in new elections)," Cherif said. "We will also not discuss the break-up of the CNDD (the junta)," he added. Cherif said, however, that the junta were willing to form a unity government with the opposition parties to choose a prime minister Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore, who is mediating in Guinea's crisis, on Saturday met with members of the junta and officials from ... Read Full Story

Burkina Faso and Niger are to ask the International Court of Justice to settle their long-running border dispute, the Burkinabe foreign minister said Saturday. Alain Bedouma told AFP both countries' governments had agreed to the court's jurisdiction in the disagreement, allowing them to make a formal application at the court in The Hague. The two west African countries, both former French colonies, have had difficulties agreeing their common border, which is about 650 kilometres (400 miles) long. Bedouma said the ICJ's expertise in settling border disputes was known around the world and both countries would abide by its decision. The minister did not say ... Read Full Story