The move to hand power back to Kafando was led by West African leaders who asked the worldwide community not to impose sanctions on Burkina Faso and to let the parties mediate the situation themselves.
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The government has not said what it plans to do about the RSP or upcoming October 11 elections that have since been postponed.
In the days after the coup, the population showed it was prepared to take to the streets, similar to action that forced the country’s previous president to step down a year ago after almost 30 years in power. “The transition is back and at this very minute is exercising the power of the state”, Kafando said during a press conference at the Foreign Ministry in the capital Ouagadougou. “We are proud of the intrepid Burkinabe people, in particular our youth”. Kafando added that the widespread worldwide condemnation of the coup “comforts us in our certainty that we are on the right road and that our cause is just”.
Although he failed to attend the ceremony, General Gilbert Diendere, head of the short-lived junta, met with African heads of state mandated by Ecowas, the west African bloc, to help find a solution to the crisis.
After the RSP soldiers announced they had carried out a coup, ECOWAS intervened by sending to Ouagadougou Senegal’s President Macky Sall and his Beninese counterpart.
“The response by the population – especially given the history of the presidential guard and their abuses and that they were alleged to have killed numerous protesters in 2014 – that’s where I would say this is exceptional”, she said. “With the crisis you don’t earn anything”, said the mother of four.
Diendere stepped aside Wednesday and the presidential guard agreed to remain in its barracks.
The deal was presented to the Mogho Naba, or “king” of Burkina Faso’s leading Mossi tribe, in front of the media early Wednesday.
President John Mahama has arrived in Ouagadougou ahead of his other colleagues to meet the leader of the military junta in Burkina Faso and ensure a handover to the transition process.
Mr. Osinbajo reiterated Nigeria’s continued brotherly support for Burkina Faso, while also commending the global community for coming together to condemn the coup.
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In his speech Wednesday, Kafando denounced what the “coup d’état“, saying that Burkina Faso had overcome “the forces of evil”, a reference to Diendere and his backers.
