Blessing Blaise's Burkina By AU

It's certainly an old news the story about the either ousting or the resignation of the president of Burkina Faso, Blaise Campaore. Whether volunatary resignation or ousting, for me this makes it abundantly clear that the people's power is still relevant. Don't ask me whether their action was right or not, because I don't know.

Twenty-seven years of rule in a democratic country, and so what? It certainly would come to me as a surprise if it were the first to happen but we all know that's not the case. Once the teeming masses thronged the streets and vandalised state properties in protest of the president's bid to seek reelection at least is an indication that it was high time something was done about the situation.

Many political pundits and laymen alike have expressed divergent views about the aftermath. Some opine that since the president resigned, due constitutional procedures concerning replacement must be followed.

To others the severity of the protest is an indication that the military take over is just right for now. And it must be so until calm is properly restored. Then a proper handing over to a civilian government put in place can be done.

But it's come to many, ei sorry oo, me  as surprise the rather swift or is it hasty action by the African Union. Their emergency sitting and the order issued to the military government in the country to hand over power to a civilian government, are for want of a better word, shocker. 

Reading about the two-week ultimatum issued by the AU Security Council sent such chills down my spine that I wondered if the council now has grown the teeth that most of us expected it to have to bite in the several instances that deserved it or they may have put on an artificial one. 

Two major threats in the west African subregion; Boko Haram's terrorism and the deadly Ebola disease. I'm yet to experience any phenomenon that is more fatal than these. For about six months over 230 innocent girls in abduction have not been found.

And these same unsympathetic faceless members of this terrorising cult continue to unleash such atrocious cruelties on their fellow humans in the name of some obnoxious ideology, OMG! So I ask the AU a simple question: "How long should we wait to get our girls back?" I'm yet to hear an ultimatum given to these sons-of-a-bitch and to deal with them if the time elapses. 

The death toll continues to rise since the recent advent of Ebola in West Africa. I have lost count of the number of deaths. My brothers and sisters in Liberia, please have my sympathy. I expect the AU to use their new found teeth to take some drastic actions to STOP it now, aba!!

Now back to Blaise's Burkina and the AU's intervention; I expect calmness to prevail but not through just any means. I expect the military to act speedily like Ghana's AFRC which in 1979 handed over power peacefully to a civilian government within three months of their takeover. 

I hope to see, hear, feel, smell and touch more of AU's mandate on the ground. For if their core mandate is to ensure peace on the continent then they have failed. For as Nelson Mandela once said, "Peace is not merely the absence of war",  it is imperative that this continental union not bask in glory that since there is no war, there is peace. 

I commend AU for developing some biting teeth. However, I say that there is more work to be done, not only 'blessing' Blaise's Burkina Faso.