The head of the junta dismisses the Minister of Defense and takes office in the face of insecurity in Burkina Faso

Sep. 13 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The leader of the Burkina Faso military junta, Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, has announced the dismissal of Defense Minister Barthémey Simporé, and his decision to take up the post himself, given the insecurity situation that the African country has been going through for years.

Damiba, who appointed Simporé as minister after the formation of the transition authorities that emerged from the January 2022 coup, has proceeded to dismiss him as part of a government reshuffle that affects only this change.

The announcement has come hours after a new attack against a detachment in the north of Burkina Faso that resulted in the death of two soldiers and the “neutralization” of a dozen terrorists, as confirmed by the General Staff of the Burkina Faso Army.

The coup d’état against the then president, Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, was perpetrated after a military mutiny in protest against insecurity and the lack of means to confront jihadism, which is why the soldiers demanded the resignation of Kaboré and others. senior members of the security forces.

Burkina Faso has generally experienced a significant increase in insecurity since 2015, leading to a wave of internally displaced persons and refugees to other countries in the region.

The attacks, the work of both the Al Qaeda branch and the Islamic State branch in the region, have also contributed to increasing inter-community violence and have caused self-defense groups to flourish, to which the Burkinabe government has added ‘volunteers ‘ to help in the fight against terrorism.