Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore will remain in power for another five years following the signing of a new charter after national consultations on Saturday May 25.
Chairman of the organizing committee of the national dialogue process, Colonel Moussa Diallo said the duration of the transition is fixed at 60 months.
According to the new charter, signed by transitional President Ibrahim the transition duration is set to begin on July 2.
“The elections marking the end of the transition may be organized before this deadline if the security situation permits,” read part of the charter.
The charter also states that Traore will be able to run for president in the elections at the end of the five-year transition period.
Burkina Faso is one of a growing list of West African countries where the military has taken power accusing the elected governments of failing to keep their promises.
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Burkina Faso Military Ruler Ibrahim Traore
The current junta seized power in a September 2022 coup by ousting the military regime of Lt. Col. Paul Henri Sandaogo Damiba.
Traore overthrew his former comrade, Henri Damiba in September 30, after accusing him of failing to fulfil his promise of quelling the Islamist insurgency that has gripped Burkina Faso since 2015.
With a lack of strong democratic institutions in a country where the military has long been dominant, Capt. Traore seized power with a pledge to improve security in a nation living in fear of the militants.
About eight months earlier, he had staged a coup to remove democratically elected President Roch Marc Kabore.
The transitional government has been running Burkina Faso under a constitution approved by a national assembly that included army officers, civil society groups and traditional and religious leaders.
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Subsequently, they promised to hold elections in July this year to restore civilian rule, but also said that security considerations would take priority.
The substantial delay is likely to deepen concerns about democratic backsliding in West and Central Africa, where there have been eight coups over the past four years.
Burkina Faso saw a severe escalation of deadly attacks in 2023, with more than 8,000 people reportedly killed, according to United States-based crisis monitoring group the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED).
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