No agreement on Burkina at UN Security Council meeting

United Nations

The UN Security Council met behind closed doors Tuesday to discuss last month's coup in Burkina Faso but failed to agree on a joint statement on the junta's takeover, diplomats said.

According to a draft statement circulated by Ghana, the Security Council would express "concern" about the coup and demand the restoration of constitutional order, as well as the release of ousted president Roch Marc Christian Kabore.

The Council would also support efforts by the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas), currently chaired by Ghana, to mediate the crisis.

However, the Council's 15 members did not agree on the statement. "We still have to negotiate," a diplomatic source told AFP.

During the meeting, the Council members were briefed by the UN representative in West Africa, Mahamat Saleh Annadif, who recently visited Burkina Faso on a joint mission with an Ecowas representative.

Last week, Ecowas decided against toughening sanctions against Burkina Faso and instead demanded a timetable for a swift return to civilian rule.

The coup is the latest bout of turmoil to strike Burkina Faso, a landlocked state that has suffered chronic instability since gaining independence from France in 1960.

On January 24, Burkina Faso's military toppled the elected Kabore, who is currently under house arrest.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the day after the putsch that military coups are "unacceptable."

"The role of the military must be to defend their countries and their peoples, not to attack their governments and to fight for power," he said.