The mediator sent to Burkina Faso by West Africa's main political and economic bloc ECOWAS, Mahamadou Issoufou, on Tuesday said he was satisfied with the country's new military leader Ibrahim Traore.
Issoufou said that the 15-member bloc would continue to accompany Burkina Faso's transition to constitutional rule after the country was hit by its second military takeover this year.
The junta that took control on Friday had repeatedly urged them to respect a timetable agreed with their predecessors to return to constitutional rule by July 2024, according to ECOWAS.
We had very profound exchanges. Issoufou told reporters after meeting religious leaders and Traore in the capital Ouagadougou, about very frank exchanges.
He said that ECOWAS will remain with the people of Burkina Faso and the difficult challenges they face.
Burkina Faso s government released a statement saying the meeting took place but provided no further comments.
A diplomatic source said the meeting took place against the backdrop of protests in Ouagadougou that forced the delegation to stay at the airport rather than travel to a conference hall in the city centre for security reasons.
Dozens of demonstrators blocked access to the conference center on Tuesday morning to prevent the meeting taking place, a Reuters reporter said.
The crowds were relatively small and peaceful.
They followed violent anti-France protests over the weekend that took place over the weekend after Traore said Damiba had taken refuge in a French military base, which France denied.
Some accused the bloc of siding with France, Burkina Faso's former colonizer, and doing little to help the country fight a rampant Islamist insurgency that has killed hundreds, displaced thousands and pushed besieged towns in the north to the brink of famine.
Frustration over growing insecurity spurred both the first military takeover in January and the latest coup.
ECOWAS is struggling to achieve a return to constitutional order in Burkina Faso, Chad, Guinea, and Mali, all of which have seen coups since 2020.