Ghana, Gabon, Kenya ask UN Security Council to meet on Burkina Faso
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African members request a meeting to decide on Burkina Faso, following last month's coup.
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ECOWAS had called for an emergency summit in Accra to decide on stricter sanctions against Burkina Faso.
The three non-permanent members of the UN Security Council, Ghana, Gabon, and Kenya, have requested that next Tuesday a closed-door meeting be held about the coup d'etat of last month in Burkina Faso, according to diplomatic sources.
The same sources reported to AFP today, Friday, that Accra, holder of the rotating presidency of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), could also benefit from the meeting to propose the Security Council adopt a joint statement to condemn the coup.
On January 24, Burkina Faso's military toppled President Roch Marc Christian Kabore, who is currently under house arrest. The Council neither issued a statement on the coup nor met regarding the turmoil.
Russia still has to confirm Tuesday's proposed session which holds the Council presidency for February and sets the work schedule of the body.
Another source, which spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that Kenya prefers to hold the Council's Burkina Faso meeting on February 15; however, other members said it would be too late.
A day after the coup in Burkina Faso, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that military coups are "unacceptable", and "the role of the military must be to defend their countries and their peoples, not to attack their governments and to fight for power."
ECOWAS had called for an emergency summit in Accra Thursday to decide whether to impose stricter sanctions on Burkina Faso, but eventually, it decided not to. West African leaders decided to keep the trade and other sanctions against Mali and Guinea.
