Burkina Faso’s ousted leader Blaise Compaore has been granted Ivorian citizenship, effectively ending the prospect of his extradition to face murder charges back home.

The order was signed by Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara in November 2014, but has only just come to light.

Mr Compaore is wanted over his alleged role in the murder of iconic ex-leader Thomas Sankara in 1987.

His 27-year rule ended in October 2014 after a wave of popular protests.

Mr Compaore, whose wife is Ivorian, has been in exile in Ivory Coast since his overthrow in October 2014.

An arrest warrant was issued for him in December.

Mr Sankara, a left-wing radical seen as ‘Africa’s Che Guevara’, is considered a hero for many Africans and was succeeded by Mr Compaore, who had served as his deputy.

The exact circumstances of his death have remained a mystery.

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United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has reiterated his call for support from Member States to resolve global humanitarian issues like the refugee and migrant crisis and ensuring human dignity for all.

Mr Ki-moon said this during a visit to a site hosting internally displaced persons (IDPs) in North Kivu, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

“We have to give hope to young people…  “Particularly, we have to do much more to bring all these children back to school; we have to do much more to protect human dignity and human rights of women and girls to save them, to protect them from sexual violence,” said Mr Ban on the first stop of his two-day visit that includes attending the opening session of the Great Lakes Private Sector Investment Conference in the capital Kinshasa.

Mr Ban is expected to meet with President Joseph Kabila and other senior Congolese Government officials to discuss all these matters today.

He said his visit to IDP camps, meeting so many people, particularly young people, reminded him of when he was six years old in Republic of Korea in 1950.

“When the Korean War broke out, it was a deadly horrible war. There were millions of people killed and tens of millions had been separated, displaced. I was one of them. I had to flee,” he said, adding that the United Nations had been a ‘beacon of hope’ then and had rescued his country ‘from the brink of collapse’.

Now the United Nations are doing the same, despite a lack of resources, to protect the rights of 60 million IDPs and refugees around the world, the highest number since the end of the war.

To that end, he will convene the first-ever World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul, Turkey, in May, as well as a summit on global migration and refugee issues in September. “We need support from the Member States as the UN cannot do it alone,” he said. “No country can resolve all these issues alone.”

Responding to a question about authorities wanting to close some IDP camps in North Kivu, he said he told the Governor not to close them. The authorities seem to be lacking resources, but the UN will work together with the local and central Governments. “It is important to provide life-saving assistance to those people who need daily humanitarian assistance,” he said.

On a question on efforts to improve security in the areas of origin of IDPs, he said people should be protected from violence, particularly women and girls. But there are clearly limits for peacekeepers to do it all. That is why the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or MONUSCO, the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo, known by the French acronym FARDC, and the national police are working very closely.

“The protection of civilians is the number one priority for UN peacekeepers,” he said.

Tomorrow the Secretary-General will leave Kinshasa for Juba, South Sudan, where he is expected to meet with President Salva Kiir and visit a Protection of Civilians’ site that is run by the UN mission.

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The general command of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), which is the official army of South Sudan, has warned of security vacuum should its forces withdraw from the national capital, Juba, in implementation of the security arrangements signed with the opposition faction of SPLA-IO.

About 80% of the several thousand troops stationed at the strategic entry points and junction leading out of Juba town withdrew on Thursday morning, according to South Sudanese defense minister.

Addressing a withdrawal ceremony of the forces on Thursday, defense minister Kuol Manyang Juuk commended the soldiers for exhibiting nationalism in defending the country and the constitution.

“The mandate of the army is to defend the country, protect citizens and their properties. You have executed this mandate very well but you need to do more to protect the lives of the people and their properties. The security of this country and the citizens is in your hands,” said Juuk.

Speaking at the same function broadcast by the state owned South Sudan Television (SSTV) on Thursday, SPLA’s chief of general staff, Paul Malong Awan, urged the soldiers to exercise patience wherever they will be deployed and to provide adequate security and protection to the citizens and their properties.

“Be patient wherever you will be deployed. In wherever you will be deployed, there will be a road and this road will be used by public vehicles, it will be used by the civilians, you need to protect them. In wherever you will be deployed, there will be civilians close to you, you need to protect them. Your presence close to them should be source of security. It should not be source of insecurity,” explained Awan, who was known for resisting implementation of the security arrangements in the past.

The announcement of the withdrawal is interpreted as a humiliating setback for senior military officers and senior government officials who have been obstinate and showed unwillingness to accept mounting regional and international pressure to implement the security arrangements as per the October 2015 security deal which the two sides signed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

“Our troops have completed withdrawal in Juba. As you have seen yesterday, they left Juba already. This was supposed to be done when there is a force to take complete control so that there is no security gap. Now this withdrawal of essential units without immediate replacement will create security vacuum,” said deputy chief of general staff for operations, Lt General James Ajonga Mawut, on Tuesday.

General Mawut confirmed that the government troops have withdrawn heavy artillery from the town as required by the security deal, following claims and accusations that the government was procrastinating withdrawal in a clear violation of the security arrangement which is a prerequisite to forming transitional government of national unity.

The government is expected to deploy a total military and police force of over 5,000 in Juba, as part of its joint force with 2,910 from the opposition SPLA-IO.

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