Burkina Faso extends military regime for five years

Burkina Faso’s military government has announced it will extend its mandate for another five years.

The country’s leader, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, may also run in the next presidential election, the public channel indicates.

When he took power in a coup almost two years ago, Captain Traoré pledged to restore civilian government by July 1 of this year.

But Burkina Faso has now joined neighboring Mali in extending its military regime.

The extension was announced on Saturday, after a national consultation meeting in Ouagadougou, the capital of the West African country.

An amended charter, signed by Captain Traoré, specifies that the new 60-month transition period will come into force on July 2 this year.

“The elections marking the end of the transition could be organized before this deadline if the security situation allows it,” indicates the Reuters news agency citing the charter.

Burkina Faso has been governed by its army since January 2022, when Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Damiba took power from President Roch Kaboré.

Colonel Damiba justified the coup by saying the previous government had failed to deal with growing Islamist militant violence.

Since 2015, jihadist rebels affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group have waged a fierce insurgency that has killed thousands and displaced millions.

In September 2022, Captain Traoré ousted Colonel Damiba, arguing that a second coup was necessary because Colonel Damiba was himself incapable of fighting the insurgency.

Captain Traoré promised to improve the country’s dire security situation within “two to three months” and to restore civilian rule within 21 months.

But since he made this commitment, Captain Traoré has warned that the elections would not be “a priority” until the territory had been taken back from the jihadists so that everyone could vote.

Under the new charter, quotas will no longer be used to allocate seats in the Assembly to members of traditional parties, the AFP news agency reported.

Instead, “patriotism” will be the sole criterion for selecting MPs.

Decisions made during Saturday’s national consultation were swift, with local media reporting that political parties were absent at the start of the meeting.

International and human rights groups, including the European Union and the United Nations, have accused Burkina Faso of serious human rights violations in its fight against Islamists, including indiscriminate killings and forced disappearances of dozens of civilians.