Burkina Faso junta appoints new prime minister

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — Burkina Faso’s ruling military junta appointed a new prime minister, a day after dissolving the government without providing any reason.

Rimtalba Jean Emmanuel Ouedraogo, until now communications minister and spokesperson of the government, will be the West African country's new prime minister, junta leader Ibrahim Traore said in a presidential decree read on state television Saturday.

Traore had issued a decree Friday dismissing Prime Minister Apollinaire Joachim Kyelem de Tambela and announcing the dissolution of the national government. No reason was given for the move.

The junta in Burkina Faso seized power in September 2022 by ousting the military rule of Lt. Col. Paul Henri Sandaogo Damiba about eight months after it staged a coup to remove democratically elected President Roch Marc Kaboré.

The country is one of several West African nations where the military has recently taken over, capitalizing on popular discontent with previous democratically elected governments over security issues.

However, since its inception, the junta has struggled to end Burkina Faso’s security challenges — the very reason that it claimed had prompted it to take power.

Growing attacks by extremists linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group have devastated Burkina Faso, where thousands have been killed in recent years and more than 2 million people have been displaced, half of them children.

Around half of Burkina Faso’s territory remains outside of government control, analysts say.

The country’s transitional government has been running under a constitution approved by a national assembly that included army officers, civil society groups and traditional and religious leaders.

Under pressure from West Africa’s regional bloc, ECOWAS, the junta had set a goal to conduct an election in July 2024 to return the country to democratic rule. However, in May it extended its transition term for five more years, the duration of one presidential term.

Alongside the coup-hit nations of Niger and Mali, Burkina Faso has severed ties with longstanding Western and regional partners, including former colonial ruler France and ECOWAS, which they all quit early this year.