Burkina Faso’s new military leader Captain Ibrahim Traore on Saturday signed a decree that calls for a national meeting next week to pick a transitional president who will serve the country until elections, reported The Africa News.
“In view of the adoption of the transition charter, a national meeting will be convened on October 14 and 15,” said the decree signed by Captain Traore, who took power a week ago and was named interim president.
During the assembly talks, which will be held in Ouagadougou, the “Transitional Charter” to set out the steps to be taken by the country towards the convocation of elections will be ratified. The meeting is expected to include actors including civil society organizations and political personalities.
Earlier this week, Burkina Faso’s new military leader Traore agreed to respect democratic transition timeline. The agreement had taken place between his predecessor and West Africa regional bloc ECOWAS.
He assured that Burkina Faso would “respect the dynamic compromise” agreed with ECOWAS in July to restore constitutional order in 24 months. He also said the country would honour its international commitments, particularly regarding the protection of human rights, and would collaborate with ECOWAS evaluation mechanisms.
Former Niger president Mahamadou Issoufou, the ECOWAS mediator who led the delegation, on Tuesday said he was satisfied with the exchanges.
Late last month, Traore led the coup that ousted military leader Paul-Henri Damiba, who had seized power in a previous coup in January. He accuse Damiba of failing to fulfil his promise of quelling the Islamist insurgency that has gripped Burkina Faso since 2015. It is the second coup in Burkina Faso in less than nine months.
Notably, jihadist militants have killed thousands and forced 2 million to flee their homes since 2015. Despite military operations, attacks increased since mid-March and continue to plunge many families into mourning.
