Airport conference facility used repeatedly by ECOWAS for shuttle mediation — including the 2011 Côte d'Ivoire post-election crisis and the 2012 Mali coup negotiations under Burkinabé President Blaise Compaoré's mediator role.
Ouagadougou served, under President Blaise Compaoré (1987–2014), as ECOWAS's principal mediation venue for francophone West African crises. Compaoré was the long-time ECOWAS-designated mediator; the airport conference room hosted the key negotiating rounds.
For Nigeria, three episodes mattered. (i) The 2007 Linas-Marcoussis follow-up talks on Côte d'Ivoire, in which Nigeria as ECOWAS chair pressed for a transitional administration. (ii) The 2010–2011 Ivorian post-election crisis: Goodluck Jonathan as ECOWAS chair authorised the use of legitimate force against Laurent Gbagbo following talks here. (iii) The 2012 Mali coup, after which Captain Amadou Sanogo flew to Ouagadougou for ECOWAS-mandated negotiations that returned power to a transitional civilian government.
Compaoré was himself overthrown in October 2014 and the building's role as a neutral mediation venue lapsed. ECOWAS shuttle diplomacy now runs primarily through Abuja and Accra. The historical record, however, still credits Ouagadougou Airport with more West African coup-and-crisis settlements than any other single venue.