Nearly a year to the day after taking over in a coup, Captain Ibrahim Traore, the head of the country’s military, stated on state television on Friday that “security” is more important than elections in Burkina Faso.
Traore declared plans to amend the constitution to make it more representative of the “masses” in addition to his earlier pledge to restore democracy with presidential elections by July 2024.
In a nation rife with terrorist violence, he told reporters, “it’s not a priority, I’ll tell you that clearly, security is the priority.
He stated that organizing a ballot was still the main objective but did not provide a specific timetable.
“There won’t be an election that is only concentrated in Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso and other nearby towns,” he said, referring to two places that have mostly escaped frequent terrorist strikes.
“It has to be that all Burkinabe people choose their president.” He added.
At age 34, Traore was inaugurated in as interim president and made a promise to retake lost territory and promote a transition that would result in elections in July 2024.
The country’s constitution, Traore continued on Friday, reflects “the opinion of a small group of enlightened people,” to the detriment of the “popular masses,” and he is preparing a “partial change.”
“The current texts don’t allow us to be able to evolve peacefully,” he said.
On Friday (September 29, 2023), many people marched in support of the military government and demanded the passage of a new constitution in Ouagadougou and other cities.
Traore promised himself “two to three months” to increase security in Burkina Faso after taking power, yet a year later, Islamist violence still plagues the West African country.
He claimed the country’s deteriorating security situation as rationale for the putsch at the time.
Since then, the government has concentrated on putting a stop to assaults by Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group. It has also launched a large recruiting campaign for the Volunteers for the Defence of the Fatherland (VDP), a civilian organization that aids the armed forces.
Lassina Diarra, an expert on Sahelian security, said that despite hopes that Traore’s efforts to retake territory and strengthen security would succeed, “the situation has significantly deteriorated.”
A study by NGO watchdog the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) found that over 17,000 people had killed in attacks since 2015, including more than 6,000 only this year.
Nevertheless, the government asserted at the end of last month that more than 190,000 people had returned to their homes after it drove out terrorists from the region, and supporters of the regime applaud what they describe Traore’s tough choices.
On Friday (September 29, 2023), Traore said, “We are at war,” blaming “certain actors” for their refusal to supply the army with the necessary supplies.
The majority of our equipment, he continued, is Russian, and “not much” of it is French.
Relationships with France deteriorated under Traore, and in February, at the junta’s request, French personnel that had been assisting the Burkinabe army left the country.
Since then, Burkina has gotten closer to Russia and joined forces with its neighboring military-run nations of Mali and Niger.
Recently, worries about the country’s declining civil liberties have been voiced, and some have denounced suspected violations by the VDP or armed forces.
In the past year, correspondents from the newspapers Liberation and Le Monde have been removed, while the French media outlets RFI, France 24, and Jeune Afrique have been banned from the nation.
Traore on Friday (September 29, 2023) said that “individual freedoms must not take precedence over collective freedoms”.
A day after the military administration claimed to have stopped a coup attempt, authorities revealed on Thursday (September 28, 2023) that four officers had been detained. Read more about the story here>>
The junta claimed late on Wednesday that the effort had been thwarted the day before by the intelligence and security agencies.
When questioned about the failed coup, Traore mentioned “manipulated individuals” but asserted that there was “no malaise” within the army.
Ref: AFP
