By Yao Fulbert
ABIDJAN
The opposition Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) has denounced the government's decision to take in ousted Burkinabe president Blaise Compaore and provide him with what it describes as a "golden exile."
"Compaore cannot get away so easily by having a golden exile in Ivory Coast," FPI spokesman Agnes Monnet said in a Monday statement.
Compaore, Monnet asserted, should answer "to justice for all the crimes he is accused or suspected of in his country, Ivory Coast and elsewhere in West Africa."
He went on to accuse the Burkinabe autocrat, ousted last Friday following mass protests against his rule, of having "organized, funded, armed and offered his country as a rear base for rebels who later unleashed their members on [Ivory Coast]."
He did not elaborate further.
Monnet, however, stopped short of leveling any criticisms at the Ivorian regime for its decision to host Burkina Faso's deposed president.
In power since 1987, Compaore was forced to step down and depart for Ivory Coast on Friday – along with his family – following mass protests against a planned constitutional amendment that would have allowed him to seek another term in office.
On Saturday, the Burkinabe army named Isaac Zida, second-in-command in the presidential guard under Compaore, as the country's new interim president.
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