Burkina Faso junta fires prime minister, dissolves government 

 

FILE – Burkina Faso Prime Minister Apollinaire Joachim Kyelem de Tambela, center, is pictured at a rally in Niamey, Niger, Dec. 29, 2023. Tambela has been fired, according to a government decree issued Dec. 6, 2024.

Burkina Faso\’s ruling junta has dismissed interim Prime Minister Apollinaire Joachim Kyelem de Tambela and dissolved the government, according to a decree issued Friday by the office of military leader Ibrahim Traore.

The decree did not give a reason for the dismissal of Tambela, who was appointed interim premier soon after Traore seized power in September 2022 — one of a string of military coups in West Africa\’s unstable Sahel region in recent years.

Members of the dissolved government will continue in their roles until a new Cabinet is named, the decree said.

Burkina has been fighting Islamist insurgents, some with links to al-Qaida and Islamic State, since they spread into its territory from neighboring Mali almost a decade ago.

Thousands of Burkinabe have been killed in recent years in militant attacks, and more than 2 million people have been displaced, half of them children.

The continued unrest has pushed tens of thousands of Burkinabe to the brink of starvation. Analysts say that at least half of Burkina Faso’s territory is still outside the government’s control.

Traore vowed to do better than his predecessors when he assumed command in 2022, but the security situation has deteriorated further under his regime, which has also cracked down on dissent, analysts, rights groups and humanitarian workers say.

By：VOA