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Burkina Faso’s military junta has extended its reign until at least 2029, abandoning elections originally promised this year amid a violent insurgency that has wracked the country.
The move cements the regime’s control of the west African nation far beyond the 21-month transitional period agreed when it took power in a coup two years ago.
Interim leader Ibrahim Traoré signed a new charter, which comes into effect on July 2, into law on Saturday evening. The 36-year-old will become president and “supreme leader” of the armed forces and will be eligible to contest elections whenever they are held.
The charter, agreed after discussions with lawmakers, security forces and religious and civil society groups mostly loyal to the military regime, consolidates power for the ruling Patriotic Movement for Safeguard and Restoration junta that has run Burkina Faso since 2022.
PMSR’s first coup took place in January 2022 when it toppled the civilian government of President Roch Kaboré. That coup was led by lieutenant colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, who was ousted eight months later by Traoré, an army captain.
The junta says that it seized power to restore order to the country of 22.7mn, which has been plagued by attacks from Islamist insurgents.
A wave of coups in the region has brought with it a realignment of alliances, with junta leaders ditching security arrangements with western partners, such as France and the US, in favour of closer ties with Russia.
Countries in the Sahel, the semi-arid strip south of the Sahara, such as Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, have been under attack for more than a decade by Islamist groups affiliated to Isis, al-Qaeda and other insurgents.
All three countries have experienced coups since 2020, part of a wider trend of military takeovers in west and central Africa as security challenges and economic turmoil fuel dissatisfaction with democracy in the region.
Burkina Faso has become the centre of the violence in the region, with about 10 per cent of the population displaced by insurgents and the government controlling only about 40 per cent of its territory.
Traoré has said he will not organise elections in the country until security improves, despite promising when the junta first came to power that a vote would be held in July 2024. The charter leaves open the possibility of a vote before the new five-year transitional period ends.
The prolonged transition is another blow to the efforts of the regional Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas), which has been attempting to restore democratic rule in the bloc’s junta-led nations.
Ecowas members Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger are all ruled by military juntas, which have threatened to withdraw from the bloc. Mali, which has been led by a military regime since 2020, earlier this month proposed delaying its transition by another three years.
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