The appeal came after a summit of former Burkinabe leaders staged by Lieutenant-Colonel Damiba, who took power in a coup in January.

The event aimed to "accelerate national reconciliation" and find a solution to curb the jihadist violence that has rocked Burkina Faso since 2015.

"This meeting focused mainly on the quest for lasting peace in our country," Damiba said in a statement after the gathering, attended by only two out of the five ex-presidents who were invited.

"It is only in social cohesion and unity that the forces fighting terrorism at this very moment will be even more determined and successful," he added.

Damiba spoke alongside former heads of state Jean-Baptiste Ouedraogo, who was in office from 1982 to 1983, and Compaore, who served as president for 27 years until he was forced into exile in Ivory Coast following a popular uprising in 2014.

Compaore's return home for the first time in eight years on Thursday to attend the summit has drawn widespread criticism.

On April 6, he was sentenced in absentia to life in prison for his role in the assassination of his predecessor Thomas Sankara, a pan-African icon, during the coup that brought him to power in 1987.

"The urgency of preserving the existence of our homeland requires a synergy of actions that does not allow us to give ourselves the luxury of wasting any time in arguments," Damiba said.

- 'Should be arrested' -

The other former leaders invited to attend the summit were Roch Marc Christian Kabore, who was overthrown in January, Isaac Zida, who briefly took office in 2014 and currently lives in exile in Canada, and Michel Kafando, who ruled from 2014 to 2015. But none of them attended.

Dozens of protesters demonstrated Friday morning outside Kabore's home in Ouagadougou to prevent him from attending the meeting.

Members of Kabore's party, the People's Movement for Progress (MPP), were among those demonstrating to prevent him from attending the summit of former heads of state.

"Should we sacrifice justice, the foundation of the republican pact, on the altar of a certain national reconciliation?" the MPP asked.

Boukari Conombo, president of the Black Armband, a civil society movement, dismissed the new president's attempt for a reconciliation as "a farce".

"It's not the role of Damiba who made a coup to reconcile people," he told AFP.

The Patriotic Front, which includes some 20 organisations and political parties, said Compaore "should be immediately arrested and taken to prison", as an international arrest warrant has been issued against him.

"This reconciliation must not and cannot be achieved by establishing impunity or by making arrangements between politicians," several trade unions, also present, said.

Zida could not make it "for administrative reasons", while Kafando could not "for health reasons", according to Damiba.