“If it’s vacant, let them come and get it”

June 21. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The leader of Burkina Faso’s military junta, Ibrahim Traoré, has challenged speculation about a possible power vacuum and crisis within the Armed Forces in recent months and has challenged his critics by asserting that “if (the position) is vacant, let them come and take it.”

“It’s something imaginary. If it’s vacant, let them come and take it,” he stated during a visit to the headquarters of Radiotelevision of Burkina Faso (RTB), the target of an attack with mortar shells last week, according to what he gathered. the Burkinabe news portal Burkina24.

Thus, he stated that there are people who “want to distract” the population with these incidents and speculations. “It’s nothing important. We don’t run away. Never. We are soldiers. That’s the last thing that comes to mind. We don’t retreat, we don’t give up and we don’t kneel before anyone, except before our parents and before God,” he said.

“We continue working,” said Traoré, who stressed that he had not made the visit during those days because he was “letting them continue (with the speculation) until they drowned.” “I think they have already drowned and that all of Africa understands that they are stateless people and enemies of the nation,” he concluded.

Traoré’s words come after the Army denied that “riots” had been registered in different bases in the country and spoke of an attempt to “demoralize the troops”, after the branch of Al Qaeda in the Sahel, the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM), claimed to have killed more than one hundred soldiers in Mansila (northeast) and in the face of increased insecurity due to jihadist attacks.

Likewise, the authorities had declined to comment on the attack on the national radio and television headquarters in the capital, Ouagadougou, and, in fact, Traoré made a public appearance on Sunday, but without making any statements, which caused speculation to increase. the situation around his authority.

Burkina Faso, led since 2022 by a military junta headed by Traoré, has experienced a significant increase in insecurity since 2015 due to both the presence of the JNIM and the Islamic State branch in this region of the African continent, which has caused a wave of internally displaced persons and refugees to other Sahel countries.