Who is Blaise Campaoré?

In the early days of his role as West Africa correspondent, when Conakry’s streets were a killing field, my husband looked up from his screen and said: “How do you write a snappy intro about two countries no one’s ever heard of?”

We laughed, knowing that was a pitfall of covering 15 West African countries, many of which receive scant attention by western media.

Bloodshed at a demonstration in Conakry, Guinea aimed at stalling plans by the military leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara to run in upcoming presidential elections meant that country was climbing the mainstream media’s agenda.

Harder to explain was Burkina Faso, a large but largely unknown country, whose president, Blaise Campaoré (pictured above with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi), had been appointed by the Economic Community of West African States to broker a peace deal with Dadis Camara.

Over the past four years, Campaoré has become mediator du jour, negotiating in three African disputes: Côte d’Ivoire, Togo and now Guinea.

In July 2006, he was named mediator of the Inter-Togolese Dialogue, a series of measures aimed at pulling this small West African country out of the disastrous effects of a decade of prolonged political, economic and financial governance crisis.

In 2007, he was back in the spotlight as mediator in Côte d’Ivoire, a cornerstone of the region’s economy that from 2002 was torn apart by a civil war that had turned its tropical landscape into a troubled heap of African corpses.

Campaoré brokered the peace agreement that was signed by Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo and the then-rebel Forces Nouvelles leader Guillaume Soro after a month of negotiations in Ouagadougou on March 4, 2007.

At last February’s Ecowas business forum, Campaoré spoke of the urgency of implementing the Millennium Development Goals, the role of the private sector in developing world wealth creation, peace and security, good governance, the fight against poverty, and ensuring the harmonious integration of West Africa into the global economy.

So what better candidate for Nigeria (as current chair of Ecowas) to choose than Campaoré for the job of fixing Guinea?

Not sure. Have a look at his record.

He entered the political scene in 1987 in a bloody coup that murdered his erstwhile brother in arms, Thomas Sankara, who despite having taken power in a coup four years earlier was regarded by many as a genuine idealist.Campaoré’s stewardship later saw the elimination of Henri Zongo and Jean-Baptiste Boukary Lingani, accused of plotting against his regime.

Four years later he was elected unopposed when just 25% of the electorate turned out to vote. He was re-elected in 1998 and 2005, breaking a constitutional amendment that allows a president two terms of five years each in power. Campaoré, who by then had been in the president’s seat for 18 years, said the amendment could not be applied retroactively and he took power once again.

Burkina Faso has faced domestic and external concern over the state of its economy and human rights, and allegations that it was involved in the smuggling of diamonds by rebels in Sierra Leone. It has substantial gold reserves, yet its main export is cotton, which leaves it vulnerable to market fluctuations. The United Nations ranks the country as the third poorest in the world.

In 1998, Norbert Zongo, the publisher and editor of the Burkina Faso newspaper l'Indépendant, was murdered while his newspaper was investigating the murder of a driver who had worked for the Campaoré’s brother. An Independent Commission of Inquiry concluded that Zongo was killed for purely political reasons, but no one has been charged for his murder.

When a decision was taken to drop the case, Reporters Without Borders said: "After eight years of campaigning, this decision makes the reign of impunity in Burkina Faso official… The president has got what he always wanted - injustice”. On the upside, at least there was an independent inquiry that was able to pass a judgment unfavorable to the government.

Among the more high profile allegations against him are those that have emerged during the trial first in Sierra Leone and then in The Hague of Charles Taylor, former Liberian leader, for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Sierra Leone, where one of the bloodiest and most chilling wars in West Africa raged for 11 years. Linked investigations found documents showing arms shipments from Ukraine to Burkina Faso.

They have also collected statements from witnesses describing how these arms were transported to Taylor’s militias and to Foday Sankoh’s Revolutionary United Front in Sierra Leone, plus other military and commercial links between Compaoré, Sankoh and Taylor. These are allegations of course, but they keep cropping up.

A leader in the Sierra Herald, a Sierra Leonean newspaper and website, asks why Campaoré has been drafted in to help Guinea when he is “the chief gun-runner and rabble-rouser of the sub-region, with paws in the three rather fragile states of Liberia, Côte d’Ivoire and Sierra Leone.”

Perhaps here is the very reason he’s been chosen.

His role in Côte d’Ivoire offers clues. His appointment there is understood to have happened due to his support for the Forces Nouvelles, the breakaway militia in the north of the country who had mutinied with success in 2002. Involving him as mediator was viewed as the only way to exercise power over the rebels and broker a peace agreement using what Africa Confidential calls his “diplomatic cunning” aimed at transforming himself “from rebel sponsor to regional peacemaker”.

Two years on, and in spite of that agreement, the country remains split across the middle, tens of thousands of weapons continue to circulate and elections aimed at restoring democracy have been postponed five times.

In Guinea, he is believed to have been the backer of a plot against the previous regime under Lieutenant General Lansana Conté. Following Conté’s death, many of his senior officers switched allegiance and now serve in Dadis Camara’s regime. Ecowas could be hoping this would give Campaoré enough leverage to build a rapport with Dadis Camara, says Africa Confidential.

The early signs have not been encouraging, but then the two sides in Guinea’s conflict have irreconcilable positions. Dadis Camara, meanwhile, lies in hospital in Morocco after being shot by one of his top aides earlier this month. The official media in Guinea has reported that the junta leader is recovering and will return to the country as soon as possible, but unofficial reports suggest he is incapacitated and unaware of his surroundings.

Whether or not Dadis Camara returns to Guinea and to power, Campaoré will still be talking to military men in his efforts to diffuse the situation. He may have the knack for talking to soldiers, but the civilians on whom Guinea’s future depends may have more difficulty in talking to the grand daddy of West African coup leaders.