Burkina Faso’s Military Leader Damiba Takes Over Defence Portfolio In Cabinet Reshuffle

Burkina Faso’s leader Colonel Paul-Henri Damiba has sacked his defence minister and taken over the defence portfolio himself, a statement read on national television on Monday said, reported The Reuters.

The first decree, which was read on national television, confirmed the removal of General Barthelemy Simpore as defence minister, while the second said the president has taken over the duties of the minister of national defence and veterans.

Damiba led a coup that ousted elected leader Roch Marc Christian Kabore on January 24 after he failed to stem the jihadist insurgency in the country that first emerged in Mali in 2012.

The decree also confirmed that Colonel-Major Silas Keita was named minister delegate in charge of national defence and promoted to brigadier general. Keita was the only new minister introduced in the mini-shuffle, which is the first since the appointment of a transitional government in March.

The reshuffle comes as the West African nation continues to be jolt by a series of jihadist attacks.

The landlocked country is in the grip of a seven-year-old insurgency that has claimed more than 2,000 lives and forced about 1.4 million people to leave their homes. More than 40 percent of the country is outside government control.

Attacks by militants linked to Islamic State and al Qaeda have increased since the start of the year, despite the junta’s vow to make security its top priority. September has been particularly bloody.

Burkina Faso’s army said two soldiers died and a dozen “terrorists” were killed on Monday during an attack against a military detachment in Burkina Faso’s jihadist-hit north.

Less than a week earlier, security sources said separate attacks by suspected jihadists had killed nine people, mostly civilians, in Burkina Faso’s north.

At least 35 civilians were killed and 37 injured last week when an improvised explosive device blast struck a convoy carrying supplies between Djibo and Bourzanga.