Report by: the AFP
Former Burkina Faso president Blaise Compaore returned to Ouagadougou on Thursday after eight years in exile, members of his entourage and an airport source told AFP.
Compaore, 71, flew in from Ivory Coast, where he has been living, for a summit of ex-presidents with the country’s new strongman, Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba. The latter was sworn in as president earlier this year following a coup.
Compaore’s plane, provided by the Ivorian presidency, landed at the military base in the Burkinabe capital in the early afternoon.
Meanwhile, dozens of the ex-president’s supporters had gathered at Ouagadougou’s main international airport, where they expected him to arrive.
“We have come to welcome him and show him our respect,” said Alida, a 36-year-old teacher from the former head of state’s home village of Ziniare, about 30 kilometers from the capital.