Burkina Faso’s transitional president, Lt. Col. Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, appointed a new government of 25 ministers on Saturday evening to lead the country through a three-year transition.
General Barthélémy Simporé, already Minister of Defense under Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, the president overthrown by a military coup at the end of January, retains his post, according to a decree published on Saturday evening. He was even elevated to the rank of Minister of State.
Among the other ministers, Yero Boly, several times minister in various governments of ex-president Blaise Compaoré, was appointed Minister of State to the President of Faso, in charge of Social Cohesion and National Reconciliation.
Civil society and trade union leaders including Lionel Bilgo (National Education and Literacy) and Bassolma Bazié (Public Service) are also entering the government.
Six women figure in this government, including Olivia Rouamba, who holds the Foreign Affairs portfolio.
On Thursday, Albert Ouédraogo, a 53-year-old academic, was named prime minister.
Burkinabe’s new head of state, Lt. Col. Damiba, 41, seized power in late January following two days of mutinies in several barracks across the country, toppling elected president Roch Marc Christian Kaboré accused of ineffectiveness in the face of violence jihadists who undermine the country.
The new president has made the fight once morest jihadism and the rebuilding of the Burkinabè state his “priority”.
The transition period before a return to constitutional order has been set at three years, according to a charter signed by Lieutenant-Colonel Damiba, which prohibits him from standing in the elections scheduled for the end of the transition.
The duration of the transitions is at the heart of the negotiations between the countries of the region affected by the putschs and the Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which is demanding that they be as short as possible.
ECOWAS has deemed “unacceptable” that of five years set by Mali, and continues to demand a timetable from Guinea, which refuses to be imposed any deadline. She has not yet decided on the Burkinabè calendar.
