Mediators working to end the political unrest in the West African nation of Burkina Faso are expected to announce a resolution to the crisis on Sunday, however media reported violence had erupted at the main hotel where talks were taking place with regional mediators.

Pro-coup demonstrators in Burkina Faso on Sunday invaded a hotel in the capital, Ouagadougou, that was scheduled to host talks aimed at hammering out the details of a deal to restore a civilian interim government and attacked participants arriving for the meeting, witnesses told Reuters.

Some of the protesters carried signs expressing support for a military junta headed by the elite presidential guard, which stormed a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, disrupting a transition period due to end with elections on Oct. 11.

Soldiers protected two opposition leaders from an angry mob that had tried to stop them from entering the hotel.

On Saturday, Benin President Thomas Boni Yayi discussed the status of the negotiations with reporters Saturday in Ouagadougou but would not give details of the potential deal.

Lead negotiators

Boni Yayi and Senegal President Macky Sall are leading the talks with General Gilbert Diendere, who seized power Thursday after members of the elite presidential guard stormed into a Cabinet meeting the day before and abducted acting President Michel Kafando and his ministers. 

The coup triggered angry protests in the streets of Ouagadougou, escalating into bloody clashes between protesters and soldiers that left 10 people dead and more than 100 injured. The violence had ebbed by Saturday with very few soldiers patrolling Ouagadougou.

Kafando’s government was installed after the ouster of President Blaise Compaore last October due to a popular uprising.

The coup was condemned by the United States, France – Burkina Faso’s former colonial ruler — the United Nations and the African Union, which suspended the country’s membership on Friday. 

Some material for this report came from AP and Reuters.
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