Burkina Faso junta faced with protests over exiled ex-leader

By OUMAR ZOMBRE and SAM MEDNICK
Associated Press

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) — Protesters in Burkina Faso demonstrated Friday against the return of former President Blaise Compaore, as the ruling junta faltered in its efforts to hold a summit on the crisis of jihadi violence. Compaore, the longtime strongman ousted by a popular insurrection in 2014, returned to Burkina Faso to attend the unprecedented meeting with other former leaders. Junta leader Lt. Col. Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba called the meeting which was to include five former presidents. But on Friday only Compaore and Jean-Baptiste Ouedraogo showed up for the meeting. The meeting devised by Damiba, who had himself appointed interim president, was an attempt to discuss Burkina Faso’s future amid escalating jihadi violence that has killed thousands.