Summit with ex-Burkina president Compaore hit by no-shows, protests

FILE PHOTO: President of Burkina Faso, Blaise Compaore, sits on stage to support a commitment to stop poaching of African elephants at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) in New York September 26, 2013. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) - Burkina Faso leader Paul-Henri Damiba's planned reconciliation summit of former presidents got off to a rocky start on Friday as two declined to attend and another faced protests outside his house over the participation of former strongman Blaise Compaore.

Compaore, who was ousted in an uprising in 2014 after 27 years in power, returned from exile in Ivory Coast on Thursday to take part in the summit, which is meant to project political unity in the face of spiralling violence by Islamist militants.