By Umaru Sanda Amadu
ACCRA
Ghanaian President and Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) John Mahama left Ghana on Wednesday for Burkinabe capital Ouagadougou to help mediate an ongoing crisis in the neighboring country.
Mahama will be accompanied during the visit by fellow ECOWAS leaders President Macky Sall of Senegal and President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria.
A statement issued by the Ghanaian presidency this morning said Mahama's visit came after he received a report prepared by a joint mission dispatched to Burkina Faso by ECOWAS, the African Union and the UN.
"The mission, which was in that country from October 30, returned to brief President Mahama last Sunday before returning to Ouagadougou on Monday," the statement read.
The ECOWAS chairman, it added, had been "engaging with stakeholders, including the military, and has called for a consensual solution in line with the provisions of the constitution of Burkina Faso."
ECOWAS, meanwhile, has assured the Burkinabe people of its readiness to work with them to restore order, find sustainable solutions to the country's political impasse, and work towards holding free and credible elections.
Burkina Faso descended into chaos after longstanding president Blaise Compaore proposed a constitutional amendment that would have allowed him to seek another term in office.
In power since 1987, Compaore was forced to step down last Friday amid massive street protests against the amendment proposal. He has since left with his family to the Ivory Coast.
On Saturday, the Burkinabe army named Isaac Zida, the second-in-command of the country's presidential guard, as new interim president.
The appointment angered the opposition, however, which asserted that Compaore had left office as the result of popular pressure rather than a military coup.
Burkinabe authorities have since closed the country's borders with Ghana, its southern neighbor.
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