BURKINA FASO’S TRAORÉ: PRESIDENT FOR 5 MORE YRS

The people cheered as a charter granted President Ibrahim Traoré a 5-year extension in office, starting on 2 July. His title has changed from ‘President of the Transition of Burkina Faso’ to ‘President of Burkina Faso.’

On May 25-26, the landlocked African country held ‘Les assises nationales’ or ‘The National Conferences,’ when representatives from Burkina Faso’s 13 regions convened meetings to determine the country’s direction. The process included government officials, as well as representatives from civil society organisations and trade unions.

This extension comes almost 20 months after a military coup that ousted a Western-aligned leader. Since then, the population has poured into the streets to express support for the new government, which has taken over areas once held by terrorist groups, kicked out widely unpopular French troops and media, nationalised local industries, and embarked on a pathway to industrialisation and job creation with new refineries and plans for new energy facilities.

While political parties boycotted this past weekend’s decision-making process, party members decided to attend anyway to express their opinions as individuals. Such was the case with Moussa Diallo of Ex-Chef De Fil de L’opposition (Ex-Leader of the Opposition political coalition in English), who said to local TV news station Faso 7, ‘I told myself that, as a patriot, it was my duty to come here.’ The same was the case with Ali Badra Ouédraogo, former president of Rassemblement des Patriotes pour le Renouveau (Rally of Patriots for Renewal), who voiced satisfaction with the process.

Many ordinary Burkinabè people we spoke to outside the conference hall are satisfied with the five-year extension. However, a visible segment of the population hoped for a 10-year transition period.

Here is what they had to say.