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Burkina Faso’s new strongman, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, was sworn in as transitional president by the Constitutional Council on Friday. He had seized power in a coup on September 30.
After being appointed transitional president of Burkina Faso, Captain Ibrahim Traoré was sworn in on Friday, October 21, as transitional president by the Constitutional Council.
“I swear before the people of Burkina Faso and on my honor to preserve, respect, uphold and defend the Constitution, the transition charter and the laws” of Burkina Faso, Traoré said, raising his right hand as he was sworn in before the Constitutional Council.
“The Council takes note of his oath (…) and returns him to the exercise of his functions,” said the interim president of the Constitutional Council, Bouraima Cissé, directing the congratulations of the Wise Men to the young soldier.
This is the second coup that the Constitutional Council invests in eight months, after the swearing in of Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, who came to power through another coup at the end of January, before being himself overthrown on September 30.
“The existence of the nation is in danger,” said Traoré after taking office, referring to the recurrent jihadist attacks that devastate the country.
“We are facing an unprecedented humanitarian and security crisis. Our goals are none other than the reconquest of the territory occupied by these hordes of terrorists,” he added, wearing a combat uniform with a scarf in the colors of Burkina Faso, a beret red on the head and a mask that only showed the eyes.
A term that ends in July 2024
The hearing was held before representatives of the constituted bodies, the Army and the “active forces” of the country. No foreign representative attended the investiture ceremony.
A few hours earlier, access to the Council was filtered by a large security device around the institution’s headquarters in Ouagadougou, according to an AFP journalist.
This investiture was foreseen in the transition letter adopted last week by the national assembly, which brings together the active forces of the country and which unanimously appointed Captain Ibrahim Traoré “president of the transition, head of state, supreme chief of the forces national armies”.
Article 4 of the letter underlines that “the mandate of the president of the transition ends with the investiture of the president resulting from the presidential elections”, elections scheduled for July 2024.
On January 24, soldiers led by Lieutenant Colonel Damiba and grouped in a group called the Patriotic Movement for Safeguarding and Restoration (MPSR), overthrew President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, accused of incapacity in the face of the jihadist attacks that have multiplied in Burkina Faso. .
But these attacks did not stop for eight months and, given the constant deterioration of the situation, a new coup d’état took place on September 30, which brought Traoré to power. “From January 24, until September 30, we have seen drifts that have led to a rethinking of this transition,” the captain said in his speech on Friday.
with AFP
