STUDIES & African Perspectives ARTICLES

ECOWAS Management to Burkina Faso’s Crisis

Dr. Abdo Bah Lecturer at the Institute of African Research and Studies, Cairo University West Africa had long witnessed several political crises, some of which led to the collapse of political regimes while others threat- ened the national unity of other countries. In all cases, the common denominator between such crises is that they are all internal with regional dimensions; represented in the civil wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone, the coups in Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Mali, Guinea Bissau and Gambia, and the coup attempts in Cote D’Ivoire which was followed by the civil war upon 2009 presidential elections, not to mention the crisis of the occupation of armed groups to North Mali in 2012 and the recent Burkina Faso’s crisis on October 30/31, 2014, among others. Such kinds of crisis led the ECOWAS (Economic Community of West Afri- can States) to establish a sub-regional mechanism, entitled “ECOWAS Ceasefire Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) in order to face the regional peace and security threats. It is worthy to mention that the ECOWAS system al- lows the intervention in some crises for special purposes. Such intervention can take place in five cases: 1- An aggression against or a threat to a member state. 2- Conflict between two or more member states. 3- Internal conflict, if such conflict might lead to a humanitarian catastrophe or might threaten the regional peace and security. 4- A blatant violation to human rights or to the rule of law. 5- A coup or a coup attempt against a democratically elected government. The ECOMOG had previously interfered in the first Liberian civil war; 1989-1996, under the leadership of Nigeria. It had also interfered in Sierra Leone’s civil war in the 1990s, in Guinea Bissau and in Cote D’Ivoire during the 2009 crisis. In this vein, such forces is not the only mechanism for the ECOMOG in its peaceful tasks, as there is also the Mediation and Security Council which has a diplomatic and security nature and is compromised of nine states, in addition to the Defense and Security Council which works un- der the supervision of the Mediation and Security Council. Furthermore, the ECOWAS possesses an early alert system that monitors the cases that might

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predict crises, in an attempt to pre- the rapid intervention force vent the eruption of disputes or the “ECOMOG” in certain cases. smuggling of weapons or of drugs, in Burkina Faso’s Crisis (October addition to the trans-border crimes. 30/31, 2014) This system has four bureaus dis- It is noticeable that, since its inde- tributed among various areas; each pendence, Burkina Faso had wit- of which includes a number of nessed various coups that led to con- states. stitutional amendments and upris- There are several ECOWAS char- ings; the case in any coup that takes ters on realizing stability and peace; the country to a vicious circle. Burk- salient of which are “The ECOWAS ina Faso gained its independence 54 Conflict Prevention Framework” years ago (1960-2014), 48 years of whether this conflict is internal or which (1966-2014) were under mili- among states. There is also the tary rule. Five presidents reached “Protocol on Good Governance” office during this period, each with a which commits the member states to different ruling period; the longest adopt procedures that lead to stabil- was Blaise Compaore’s era that ex- ity. At the same time, it prevents tended to 27 years (1987-2014). states from adopting procedures Compaore took over after the as- that might lead to conflicts or might sassination of Sankara and ruled the contradicts the principle of good- first four years without being governance; including the amend- elected, then he was elected for four ment of constitutions or of electoral terms; 1991, 1998, 2005, and 2010, laws short before the time of the he then tended to alter the constitu- elections. The Protocol stipulates tion, as usual, in order to remain in that reaching power should take office in 2015 elections, but the peo- place through free, fair and trans- ple resisted such change. parent elections. According to such Thereupon, a popular uprising, protocol, the ECOWAS applies the some calls it a revolution, erupted on election monitoring missions system October 30/31, 2014 due to the accu- in the member states. In this respect, mulation of crises, mostly were po- it becomes clear that the ECOWAS litical ones. In this respect, the era of applies two methodologies in facing the former President Compaore, crises that threaten peace and secu- which started with the assassination rity; i.e.; the diplomatic methodol- of Thomas Sankara in 1987 and ogy which includes mediations and ended with a popular uprising in good offices and the military meth- October 2014, was stained with vari- odology which requires the use of ous bloody events; including the as-

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sassination of the former president who altered the constitution of his and of the Journalist Norbert Zongo country to remain in office, ignoring and his three colleagues on Decem- the advices of his friends and the ber 13, 1998, in addition to the con- opposition of his people to this step, tinuous constitutional amendments thus leading to his ousting with the in an attempt to remain in power, intervention of the army. After- however, his last attempts of alter- wards, presidential elections had ing the constitution failed, thus end- been organized in 2011 and the civil ing his political life. president Mahamadou Issoufou Reasons behind the Crisis: came to office. Bloody Crimes in the 1990s It is worthy to mention that Com- This includes the impunity from paore started his term of office by the assassination of Norbert Zongo privatizing the projects which and his three colleagues in 1998 be- Sankara had previously national- cause of Zongo’s article that pointed ized. to the involvement of the President’s Regional Changes and the Double family in the assassination of the Regional Role of the Previous Presi- driver of the President’s brother. dent Compaore: Thereupon, an independent investi- From the most prominent changes gation committee had been formed in this respect is the Senegalese to determine the perpetrator of such popular uprising against the at- a crime. However, matters became tempts of their previous president to more complicated with the investi- amend the 2012 Constitution, in ad- gation committee issued its report dition to the end of the Libyan Presi- lacking clear-cut evidence convicting dent’s rule; who used to have special the accused; 6 presidential security relations with Compaore. On the members, at the time when a rumor other hand, despite the fact that got around that the president’s Compaore played the role of an hon- brother is involved in the crime. est mediator in various crisis, such Corrupt Practices as the one that took place in Cote This is represented in the Constitu- D’Ivoire between Gbagbo’s regime tional amendments to remain in of- and his dissidents and the crisis of fice. Compaore, like other African the armed groups’ occupation to presidents, held on to power until North Mali in 2012, yet there is an his people dethroned him. He did obscure side in his regional role that not learn the lesson from the former led to a rumor that Compaore had president of his neighboring country played a negative role in destabiliz- (Niger) Mamadou Tandja in 2010 ing some states. Although it is hard

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to prove that such rumors are cor- the army to transfer the rule to a rect, yet they created a negative im- civil authority, and the African age for him both domestically and Peace and Security Council decided internationally. Furthermore, that such a transition should take France’s stance against him during place within 15 days, or else sanc- the era of President François Hol- tions will be imposed. President of lande had changed, as the apparent the African Union, Mohamed Ould political discourse of the French Abdelaziz had paid a visit to Mauri- president indicates a discourage- tius so as to facilitate solving the ment to remain in power for long problem. Thereupon, the military non-constitutional periods. leader expressed his readiness to All these accumulated reasons had transfer power to civilians as soon as provoked the people against the suc- possible. Moreover, on November 3, cessive constitutional amendments. the African Union appointed a spe- It is worth mentioning that it is not cial envoy to address this crisis. On the first time for the Burkinians to November 6, 2014, the ECOWAS revolt against their regime, as the held an urgent summit in Accra, regime of the first Burkinian Presi- Ghana, to hold talks over this crisis dent had collapsed as a result of a and selected the former Senegalese popular uprising. Moreover, Com- foreign minister Ibrahima Fall as a paore’s era was full of crises, espe- special envoy to facilitate the dia- cially during the 1990s. logue and solve the problem. ECOWAS Management to the cri- On the other hand, France sis: had also played a role in these At the Beginning, A committee events, as the French President had been formed from the presi- Francois Hollande wrote to Com- dents of three states: John Dramani paore advising him not to amend the Mahama of Ghana and the constitution. He also mentioned later ECOWAS executive president, that he asked Compaore on the sec- Macky Sall of Senegal and Goodluck ond day of the crisis (October 31); Jonathan of Nigeria. They reached the day of Compaore’s stepping Ouagadougou, the Capital on No- down, to take suitable decisions; vember 5, so as to hold talks with leaving power. the other effective parties in order to In this vein, the ECOWAS, find a solution for the current crisis with other African bodies, interfered based on the transition to a civil to prevent the escalation of the cri- rule. A day before , the African Un- sis, to determine the transitional pe- ion had issued a statement asking riod with a civil leadership and to

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restore the constitution and the state lowing 2015 elections. The transi- institutions. Such efforts led to un- tional phase should be for one year derstandings that prevented the only. country from entering into disputes Due to the absence of the par- or civil wars. liament, a national council under the Conducting Dialogue for Ap- name of the “National Transitional plying a Charter for the Transi- Council” which is formed of 90 tional Period members; of which 30 represent po- Neither the opposition politi- litical parties, 25 represent civil soci- cal forces nor the civil society ac- ety organizations, 25 represent the cepted the rule of the army to the defense and security forces and 10 transitional period, thus creating represent other parties (according to tensions between both sides. The Article 12) had applied the constitu- army thus accepted conducting dia- tion. logue with the other parties, with the In this respect, such concor- help of regional forces. dance among the effective powers in Thereupon and within two Burkina Faso, in addition to apply- weeks, an initial charter had been ing the charter and selecting an in- issued that determines the features terim civil president were all re- of the transitional phase. After tak- garded the least acceptable settle- ing the observations of the military ment for the ECOWAS so as neither leaders into consideration, the final to impose sanctions nor to suspend charter, according to its preamble, Burkina Faso’s membership in the was issued to be a complementary to organization. the 1991 Constitution. The most im- Notifications over the Applica- portant transitional rules in such tion of the Transitional Phase Char- charter are represented in: the body ter in charge to appoint the interim Undoubtedly, the Burkina president is formed of 23 members, Faso’s people addressed this crisis where 5 political parties, 5 civil soci- positively. In this respect, the transi- ety organizations, 5 defense and se- tional phase charter was issued to curity members and 8 religious and appoint the diplomat Michel traditional leaders are represented. Kafando as an interim president. In The interim president should be a general, this charter is fairly fine; civilian. He should not make any however, certain notices over its ap- amendments to Article 37 of the plication can be detected as follows: Constitution. No official in the cur-  It contradicted the rules of 1991 rent government should run the fol- Constitution which stipulates

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that in case the president is incompatible with the Constitu- temporarily or constantly un- tion, but also the army and the able to perform his tasks, the police occupy around 28% of its prime minister then acts as a seats; 25 members out of 90. president until a new president  Practically, interim President is nominated for the rest of the Michel Kafando appointed the transitional period, while the military Prime Minister Lieu- constitution stipulates that the tenant Colonel Isaac Zida who chairman of the senate acts as a took-over power upon the president in case the post of the popular uprising and the step- presidency is vacant or the ping down of Compaore; thus president is unable to perform enhancing the belief that the his tasks. army is the actual ruler of the  The status of the defense and transitional period. security forces in the authori-  The accumulation of posts in ties mentioned in the charter one hand raises many ques- indicates the dominance of such tions; Kafondo, the interim forces, whether in case of ap- president is also the minister of pointing a president, in the Na- foreign affairs, Zida the prime tional Transitional Council, or minister is also the minister of in the government, especially defense. Furthermore, the three that the role of the army and ministers of the interior, of the police is deep-rooted in the mines and of sports are army history of Burkina Faso; the men, thus keeping the army as a matter which do not guarantee political power in the transi- a real democratic transforma- tional phase; the matter which tion as the people inspire. enhances the viewpoint that be-  The legislative authority in the lieves that the army is still charter is formed under the dominating the executive au- name “National Transitional thority of the transitional phase. Council”. Not only is this name

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