BURKINA FASO'S ex-president Blaise Compaore returned from exile, almost eight years after he was toppled in an uprising, to take part in a meeting with interim president Paul-Henri Damiba and other former leaders. Compaore, 71, has returned to the West African country despite being convicted in absentia in April to life in prison for complicity in his predecessor Thomas Sankara's murder. Lawyers for Sankara's family have demanded that Compaore be arrested on arrival, although Burkinabe media have speculated in recent days that he could be granted a pardon. Ivory Coast, where he took refuge in 2014, has repeatedly refused to…