Proposes “partial modification” of the Constitution, during interview on national television.
Head of Burkinabe military junta, Capt. Ibrahim Traoré gave an interview on state television, Radio Télévision Burkinabé (RTB), on Friday, September 29, where he spoke on a variety of issues. The military leader made clear the objectives of the military junta in its role as a transitional government.
Capt. Traore said elections are “not a priority”, insisting that “it is security which is the priority in this country undermined by jihadist violence.” He nevertheless added that “our bet still stands” to organize a poll, without specifying a date.
Among several objectives of his government that he highlighted was his intention to partially modify the country’s Constitution.
According to him, “The current texts do not allow us to evolve peacefully,” he responded to journalists who questioned him about a possible rewriting of the Constitution. Captain Traoré announced a “partial modification”, deploring a text which according to him reflects “the opinion of a handful of enlightened people”, to the detriment of a “popular mass”.
This has been a major demand by a large part of the population since the military junta took over. Several thousand people demonstrated on Friday, September 29, in Ouagadougou and other cities across the country in support of the military regime, calling for the adoption of a new Constitution.
As the head of Burkina Faso since September 30, 2022, he recalled having declared “on the first day” of his leadership that he wanted to “spend the minimum possible time in this fight”. According to him, “There will not be an election which will be concentrated only in Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso and in a few surrounding towns, all Burkinabés must choose their president”, referring to the two towns that have been spared from frequent jihadist attacks.
Asked about the attempted coup d’état on Wednesday that the government announced was foiled, and for which four officers were arrested, and two others on the run, Capt. Traoré spoke of “manipulated individuals”, affirming that there was “no unease” in the army.
Speaking on the current security situation in the country, which has witnessed recurring jihadist violence since 2015, and has caused more than 17,000 deaths and more than two million internally displaced people in Burkina alone. Traoré said “we are at war”.
The military leader, who is banking on the massive recruitment of civilian auxiliaries to the army, the Volunteers for the Defense of the Fatherland (VDP), assured of their “good collaboration” with the soldiers.
Representing tens of thousands of people, the VDP, who, sources say, pay a heavy price during jihadist attacks, “are perhaps more numerous than the army,” said Ibrahim Traoré.
He also blamed “certain actors” who have refused to help in strengthening the army’s equipment. “They refuse to sell to us” equipment, he lamented, adding that “most of our equipment is Russian” and that there is “not much” “French equipment”. Since obtaining the departure of French soldiers from its soil in February, Burkina Faso has sought new allies, the major one being Russia.
The country has notably moved closer to Russia, which “has never colonised a single country”, claimed Ibrahim Traoré. Burkina has also formed an alliance with Mali and Niger, two countries led by military regimes, with whom it created the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), a defense cooperation.
“We support the army of Niger”, threatened with armed intervention by West African states since a coup d’état, “to protect its population”, Captain Traoré said.
The Burkinabe leade also insisted that the government would take measures to sanction any attempt by the press, under the guise of Press freedom, to push false narratives against the government’s stated objectives. After the temporary suspensions of French media and a Burkinabé radio, Captain Traoré affirmed that “individual freedoms must not take precedence over collective freedoms”. “Either you are with the homeland or you are against the homeland,” he added.
