Burkina Faso’s military regime, which took power in a 2022 coup, will extend its rule for another five years. This decision came from national consultations held on Saturday, according to Colonel Moussa Diallo, the chairman of the organizing committee for the national dialogue process.
“The duration of the transition is fixed at 60 months from July 2, 2024,” Diallo stated after the talks. He also confirmed that coup leader and acting president Ibrahim Traore is eligible to run in any elections at the end of this transition period.
The national dialogue, initially scheduled to last two days, began on Saturday. It aimed to outline a path back to civilian rule for the country, which has been struggling with severe jihadist violence. The military has ruled Burkina Faso since 2022, citing ongoing security issues as justification for their takeover.
Since 2015, jihadist rebels linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group have waged a relentless insurgency, resulting in thousands of deaths and millions of people being displaced in Burkina Faso.
An earlier national dialogue established a charter that appointed Traore as president, along with a government and a legislative assembly. The new charter agreed upon on Saturday eliminates quotas for traditional party members in the assembly. Instead, “patriotism” will be the sole criterion for selecting deputies.
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Originally, the transition to civilian rule was set to last 21 months, with the deadline expiring on July 1. However, Traore had warned that holding elections would be challenging due to the precarious security situation.
Representatives from civil society, the security and defense forces, and lawmakers from the transitional assembly participated in the talks. However, most political parties chose to boycott the event.
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