Mediation & Peace Agreements

Mediation in Mali : Agreement of June 18, 2013

Preliminary Agreement to the Presidential Election and the Inclusive Peace Talks in Mali  between the transitional authorities of Mali and the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) and the High Council for the Unity of Azawad (HCUA), signed  in Ouagadougou on 18 June 2013

Mediation in Côte d’Ivoire : 4th Complementary Agreement to OPA, December 22, 2008

Mediation in Côte d’Ivoire : Ouagadougou Political Agreement (OPA) of March 4, 2007

Inter-Togolese Dialogue : Global Political Agreement of August 20, 2006

Compaoré to thank him for his positive role in the Liberian peace process.

A key mediator of the long socio-political crisis in that country, in the wake of the 2005 post-election violence that followed President Faure Gnassingbé’s controversial election, President Compaoré was asked again to mediate the inter-Togolese dialogue .

The Global Political Agreement was signed on, August 20, 2006. The agreement included key topics like the electoral process, security and human rights aspects and good governance with a government of national unity, paving the way for the 2007 parliamentary elections, which took place without major incidents.

Mediation in Liberia : Declaration of Ouagadougou, July 11, 2002

Although standing in stark contrast to the early 1990s, when the Compaoré government came under criticism for its position regarding the Liberian conflict supporting the rebel National Patriotic Front of Charles Taylor, from 1996 on Compaoré personally contributed to the return of peace in Liberia. Burkinabè troops assisted in the February 1997 preparations for the Liberian elections, and trained new armed forces.

President Compaoré – chairing the Organisation of the African Unity (OUA) – put Liberia on top of the agenda in 1998 during the OUA Heads of State Summit in Ouagadougou. In July 2000, Ouagadougou hosted a conclave of the Liberian crisis protagonists. Liberia’s President Charles Taylor refused to attend. But party leaders, secretary generals and other officers met in a by far much larger number in Ouagadougou and agreed on something different from what they had earlier agreed on in Bethesda, Washington DC. With the “Ouagadougou Declaration”, the conclave’s participants agreed on a cease-fire and the deployment of an interposition force by ECOWAS. They also agreed to put into place a transitional government without Taylor and to hold presidential and legislative elections, thus paving the way for a national reconciliation.

Conflict Resolution: President Blaise Compaoré has won international recognition for restoring calm and quietness in West Africa, as Facilitator of internal dialogue in Niger and Mali 1990-1991, in Chad 2003, Togo 1993 and 2006, in Côte d’Ivoire 2007-2010 as well as in Guinea 2009-2010 and again as ECOWAS mediator in Mali in 2012 until his exit from power.

He also helped to resolve the conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia 1998 and to seek reconciliation in the Central African Republic 1998, in Liberia 1998-2000 and in Sudan 2008-2009. Heading the Organisation of African Unity in 1998, his intervention with Libya lifted the international embargo imposed on the latter by the international community due to the Lockerbie affair.