2023-05-30 18:27:53
Is the prospect of democratic elections receding in the Burkina Faso ? The Prime Minister affirmed on Tuesday May 30 that there might be no elections “without security” in this country regularly hit by terrorist groupswho last weekend killed around 40 people in two attacks.
“We can’t have elections without security. If you have a magic wand that can provide us with security as soon as possible, we organize the elections,” said Apollinaire Joachimson Kyélem de Tambèla before the Transitional Legislative Assembly.
Burkina, which has experienced two coups in 2022, has been ruled since last September by the Captain Ibrahim Traore. The military must return power to civilians in July 2024, following a presidential election.
“If we organize elections now, while part of the territory is inaccessible, we will say that whoever will be elected is badly elected”, developed the Prime Minister on Tuesday. “For the elections to be accepted, at least most of the country must be able to participate.”
Burkina Faso has been caught in a spiral of violence since 2015 that emerged in Mali and at Niger a few years earlier and which has extended beyond their borders.
More than 100 people killed in May
On Saturday, a “secure convoy” was “the target of an attack by armed men” near Bourasso, informs a press release from the governorate of the Boucle du Mouhoun region, near Mali, without mentioning deaths but mentioning 18 wounded.
“This attack caused the death of around twenty people, mainly VDP (Volunteers for the defense of the homeland, civilian auxiliaries of the army),” said a local official on condition of anonymity.
Confirming the attack, a security source said that “air support deployed following the ambush detected and neutralized around thirty terrorists”, northeast of Bourasso.
On Sunday, “another group attacked the populations of Ouakara, still in the Boucle du Mouhoun region, causing innocent victims among the inhabitants”, continued the same source.
In recent weeks, violent attacks have multiplied in the region of Boucle du Mouhoun, bordering Mali. Between May 13 and May 21, the area had been the target of three deadly attacks on villages.
But other territories, such as the province of Kompienga, close to Togo a you Benignor the region of Sahel in the far north of the country, are also affected by attacks.
In total, more than 100 people died in various terrorist offensives in May.
Refusal to negotiate with the “terrorist hordes”
The approximately 50,000 VDPs currently registered in the country – these civilian army auxiliaries trained for one to two months – are paying a heavy price in the fight once morest terrorism in Burkina.
On Tuesday, the Prime Minister of Burkina Faso, Apollinaire Kyélem de Tambèla, reaffirmed the government’s desire to increase their number in the army.
“Our ambition is to increase the number of VDPs to 100,000 and even beyond,” he announced during his speech on the situation of the nation before the Transitional Legislative Assembly.
Read also Recruitment of civilians in Burkina Faso: “A great classic for regular armies in difficulty”
The head of government also declared that “there is no possible negotiation” with the “terrorist hordes”.
“We will never negotiate, neither the territorial integrity of Burkina Faso, nor its sovereignty (…). The only negotiation that is worthwhile with the armed bandits is the one that is currently being done on the battlefield”, he said. he adds.
The violence over the past seven years has killed more than 10,000 civilians and soldiers, according to NGOs, and more than two million internally displaced persons.
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