The head of Burkina Faso’s military junta stated that promised elections would only be held whenever the security situation allowed. This announcement came as hundreds of his followers protested in the country’s capital on the first anniversary of the coup.
Burkinabe flags were waved by the crowd of supporters who assembled in Ouagadougou at the Place de la Nation. Some others carried placards bearing photographs of Captain Ibrahim Traore, the country’s youthful interim president.
Traore seized office on September 30 last year, toppling the leader of another coup who had toppled president Roch Kabore eight months earlier in the midsamidating security crisis fuelled by armed groups related to al Qaeda and Islamic State. Traore’s ascension to power came during a deepening security crisis that was dreamed of by organizations linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State.
Many residents, fed up with the fatal violence and disillusioned by their government, embraced the coups with open arms. On the other hand, the Western countries, who feel their fluence diminishing as democracy retreats inretreatedel areas of West Africa, condemned the coups.
Although the junta has stated in the past that it is committed to conducting elections in July 2024 that would restore civilian authority, Traore emphasized on Friday that the first concern of his government is maintaining security.
In an interview with Shot Television to commemorate the occasion, he stated that there would be no elections in this nation until the country was secure enough for every citizen to cast a ballot.
Traore says the security state is improving, and the picture is not looking good. Across Burkina Faso, neighboring Mali, and Niger, an insurgency that has lasted for a decade has resulted in the deaths of thousands and the displacement of millions of people. Since 20, one has gone beyond military commanders who seized control by coercion.
Over fifty Burkinabe troops and volunteer fighters were killed in skirmishes with terrorists at the beginning of September, marking one of the biggest casualties sustained by Burkinabe forces in recent months.
Traore, who is 35 years old, has earned favor in certain areas with his pan-Africanist and anti-French rhetoric; even though violence continuing between Burkina Faso and its previous colonizer, France, increased, he ordered the withdrawal of French soldiers from the country and cracked down on French media.
The gathering after the junta announced that it had successfully thwarted an attempt to overthrow it and that investigations were underway to uncover who was behind the scheme.
