Burkina Faso junta leader reshuffles government with changes to Justice and Security

June 26 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The transitional president of Burkina Faso, Ibrahim Traoré, has announced a reshuffle of the government established by the military junta, with changes at the head of the ministries of Justice, Territorial Administration and Security, Agriculture and Environment.

The decree, published by the Burkinabe Government Information Service through its Facebook social network account, details that Emile Zerbo has been placed in charge of Territorial Administration, Decentralization and Security, while Edasso Rodrigue Bayala will be in charge of Justice and Human Rights.

On the other hand, Ismael Sombie will be the new Minister of Agriculture, while Roger Baro remains in charge of the Environment, within a transition Executive with 20 ministers, of which 16 remain in their posts, including Kassoum Coulibaly at Defense Front and Olivia Ragnaghnewendé Rouamba as Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Thus, the most relevant change is that of Zerbo, who replaces Boukaré Zoungrana at the head of the portfolio in charge of Security, in the midst of the increase in attacks by jihadist groups, which have left hundreds dead and hundreds of thousands displaced. in recent years, also to other countries in the region.

Burkina Faso, ruled by a military junta since the January 2022 coup against then-president Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, has experienced increased insecurity since 2015. The junta is now headed by Traoré, who starred in a September riot that was considered a “palace coup” against the hitherto leader, Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba.

The continuous attacks in the country, carried out by both the Al Qaeda affiliate and the Islamic State affiliate in the region, have also contributed to an increase in inter-communal violence and have caused self-defense groups to flourish, to which the Burkinabe government has added to ‘volunteers’ to reinforce anti-terrorist operations.