Burkina Faso military regime extends transition for another five years

The military regime in power in Burkina Faso since the coup d’état in September 2022 will prolong the transition to command of the country for another five years, according to a decision approved this Saturday.

The decision appears in a letter approved by the participants in a national conference in Ouagadougou, which specifies that “the duration of the transition is set at 60 months starting on July 2, 2024,” declared Colonel Moussa Diallo, president of the committee. meeting organizer, at the end of the work.

The president of the junta, Ibrahim Traoré, will also be able to run in the “presidential, legislative and municipal elections that will be organized to end the transition,” he added.

The national conference, initially scheduled for Sunday, was attended today by representatives of civil society, the defense and security forces and members of the transitional assembly.

Most traditional political parties boycotted the event.

In the letter signed by Traoré, the “quotas” assigned to political parties for the seats of deputies in the transitional legislative assembly are eliminated and “patriotism” is a criterion for being a member of this assembly or the Government.

Burkina Faso, plagued by recurring jihadist violence that has claimed thousands of lives for almost ten years, was the scene of two military coups in 2022.

The first, in January, brought Lieutenant Colonel Paul Henri Sandaogo Damiba to power, before being overthrown in September of the same year by Captain Traoré.

Subsequently, at the first national conference, a charter was approved establishing a President, a Government and a transitional legislative assembly and setting the transition period at 21 months.

The transition period was due to end on July 1, but Traoré referred on several occasions to the difficulty of holding elections due to the insecurity situation in the country.