For the first time since the beginning of the mediation of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), delegations of the ruling military junta and the Live Forces (opposition) will meet directly today in Burkina Faso's capital Ouagadougou in the presence of the mediator, President Blaise Compaore.
The African media emphasises the "wide anticipation for the meeting" of both the population and international community.
The mediator will have to conciliate distant stands of the sides and present a plan to lift from the crisis.
The crucial points include the role of the junta leader Dadis Moussa Camara: the junta says that "the possibility of his exile would not be taken into consideration", while the opposition and civil society groups demand his resignation and holding of new elections within six months.
Burkina Faso's President is evaluating the deployment of an ECOWAS mission in Guinea to assist the sides in the process of ending the crisis.
Reports and confirmations have been emerging over the past hours regarding the presence in Guinea of foreign forces – by some defined mercenaries – in support of the junta leader.
They are apparently military instructors who were hired to train soldiers in protection of the junta leader Camara at the Forecariah, 100km south of Conakry, along the border with Sierra Leone.
There are however contrasting versions on their nationality; the presence of some forty South African mercenaries, former police officers recruited by a private Dubai-based firm, was confirmed by Ayanda Ntsaluba, director-general of South Africa's Foreign Affairs Department.
The Guinean media reports that among the foreign army instructors there are also Israelis, Ukrainians, Liberians and Sierra Leoneans.
An international inquiry commission established by the UN is investigating the September 28 crackdown by the junta on an opposition demonstration, which according to the UN and opposition left at least 150 dead.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon yesterday reiterated the need for an independent investigation that should be concluded within a month. [BO]
