Page 6 - aruba-today-20221003

A6 WORLD NEWS
Monday 3 october 2022
Mediator: Ousted Burkina Faso leader offers resignation

By SAM MEDNICK and AR- sociated Press on Sunday.
SENE KABORE Damiba came to power
Associated Press in January promising to se-
OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina cure the country from jihadi
Faso (AP) — Burkina Faso's violence.
ousted coup leader has However, the situation only
offered his resignation as deteriorated as jihadis im-
long as his security and posed blockades on towns
other conditions were met, and have intensified at-
and the new junta leader tacks.
who overthrew him has ac- Last week, at least 11 sol-
cepted the deal, religious diers were killed and 50
leaders mediating the West civilians went missing af-
African nation's latest politi- ter a supply convoy was
cal crisis said Sunday. attacked by gunmen in
A junta spokesman later Gaskinde commune in the
announced on state televi- Sahel. The group of officers
sion that their leader, Capt. led by Traore said Friday
Ibrahim Traore, officially has that Damiba had failed
been named head of state In this image from video broadcast by RTB state television, coup spokesman Capt. Kiswendsida and was being removed.
following the Friday coup Farouk Azaria Sorgho reads a statement in a studio in Ougadougou, Burkina Faso, on Friday To some in Burkina Faso's
that ousted Lt. Col. Paul evening, Sept. 30, 2022. military, Damiba also was
Henri Sandaogo Damiba. Associated Press seen as too cozy with for-
Their power grab marked mer colonizer France,
Burkina Faso's second mili- ments already made to the mained unknown since the following his ouster. France which maintains a military
tary coup this year, deep- West African regional bloc Friday night coup. vehemently denied the al- presence in Africa's Sahel
ening fears that the po- ECOWAS. Damiba, who Amid the mediation, the legation, but soon protest- region to help countries
litical chaos could divert came to power in a coup new junta leadership also ers with torches thronged fight Islamic extremists.
attention from an Islamic last January, had recently called for an end to the un- the perimeter of the French Some who support the new
insurgency whose violence reached an agreement to rest. Embassy in Ouagadougou. coup leader, Traore, have
has killed thousands and hold an election by 2024. In a statement broadcast Saturday's violence was called on Burkina Faso's
forced 2 million to flee their "President Paul Henri Sand- on state television, junta condemned by the French government to seek Rus-
homes. It followed unrest in aogo Damiba proposed his spokesman Capt. Kiswend- Foreign Ministry, which de- sian support instead. Out-
Ouagadougou, the capi- own resignation in order to sida Farouk Azaria Sorgho nied any involvement in the side the state broadcaster
tal, in which mobs on Sat- avoid clashes," said Hami- called on people to "desist rapidly developing events. on Sunday, supporters of
urday attacked the French dou Yameogo, a spokes- from any act of violence French Institutes in Ouaga- Traore were seen cheering
embassy and other French- man for the mediation ef- and vandalism" especially dougou and the country's and waving Russian flags.
related sites, wrongly be- forts. those against the French second-largest city, Bobo- In neighboring Mali, the
lieving that they were shel- Traore accepted the con- Embassy or the French mili- Dioulasso, had also been coup leader has invited
tering Damiba. ditions, religious leaders tary base. targeted and French citi- Russian mercenaries from
Along with agreeing not said, but there was no im- Anti-French sentiment rose zens were urged to be very the Wagner Group to help
to harm or prosecute him, mediate confirmation by sharply after the new junta cautious. with security, a move than
Damiba also asked Traore Damiba himself of an offi- alleged that interim presi- "The situation is very volatile has drawn global condem-
and the new junta leader- cial resignation. dent Damiba was shelter- in Burkina Faso," a French nation and accusations of
ship to respect the commit- His whereabouts have re- ing at a French military base spokeswoman told The As- human rights abuses.q

Yemen’s warring sides fail to extend UN-backed truce

on Oct. 2. In a statement, agreement has not been lifting a Houthi blockade on
the U.N.'s envoy to Yemen reached today," but thanks Taiz, the country's third larg-
called on all sides to refrain the internationally recog- est city.
from acts of provocation as nized government for "en- But little progress has been
the talks continue. gaging positively" with the made there, after talks
The development dampens U.N.-drafted proposal to aimed at reopening local
hopes that the 6-month-old extend the cease-fire. He roads stalled. Another stick-
ceasefire could turn into a called on leaders to con- ing point is how salaries of
longer peace. tinue to endeavor to reach public employees will be
The truce, which initially an agreement. funded, many of whom
took effect in April, is the "I urge them to fulfill their have not been compen-
longest lull of fighting in Ye- obligation to the Yemeni sated for years.
men's civil war, now in its people to pursue every av- Sunday's statement came
A military parade displaying Houthi forces and weapons moves eighth year. The devastat- enue for peace," he said. a few days after Grund-
through a main street of Sanaa, Yemen, on Sept. 21, 2022. ing conflict began in 2014, April's truce had origi- berg met in Sanaa with the
Yemen's warring parties face a deadline to renew a 6-month-
long truce on Sunday, Oct. 2. when the Iranian-backed nally established a partial top leader of the Houthis,
Associated Press Houthis seized the capital of opening of the Sanaa air- Abdel-Malek al-Houthi,
Sanaa and much of north- port and the Red Sea port and other senior officials,
By AHMED AL-HAJ tween Yemen's warring ern Yemen and forced the of Hodeida. The ensuing who have been pushing
Associated Press sides failed to extend a government into exile. months have seen regular for a full opening of the air-
SANAA, Yemen (AP) — The nationwide cease-fire, af- In a statement, U.N. envoy flights start again from the port. The envoy warned last
United Nations said Sun- ter an agreement was not for Yemen Hans Grundberg capital's airport to Jordan week that the risk of return
day that negotiations be- reached before a deadline said he "regrets that an and Egypt. It also called for to war was "real."q