Burkina Faso's ousted ex-president Compaore returns to the summit

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Compaore, 71, returned home Thursday after being sentenced in absentia in April to life imprisonment for being an accessory to the murder of his predecessor, Thomas Sankara.

Lawyers for Sankara's family have called for Compaore to be arrested upon his arrival, despite speculation in Burkinabe media in recent days that he could be granted a pardon.

Ivory Coast, where he fled in 2014, has repeatedly refused to extradite him, saying they agreed with Burkinabe authorities for his return.

Compaore's plane landed in the capital Ouagadougou on Thursday afternoon, after which a helicopter took off towards the presidential palace, a Reuters reporter at the airport said.

Burkina Faso's leader Damiba, who came to power in a coup in January, has invited Compaore and other ex-presidents to attend a reconciliation summit on Friday amid rising insecurity surrounding al-Qaeda and ISIS-affiliated armed groups in the north .

Compaore, who ruled Burkina Faso for 27 years, fled to Ivory Coast during a 2014 uprising sparked by his efforts to change the constitution to allow himself to remain in power.

In April he was sentenced to life imprisonment for his part in the 1987 assassination of Marxist revolutionary Sankara.

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