Burkina Faso’s ruling junta issued a decree on Wednesday, July 16, dissolving the country’s independent electoral commission and placing future electoral processes under the control of the military government, arguing the commission was a “waste of money” and “vulnerable to foreign interferences”.
Since seizing power in a coup in September 2022, Ibrahim Traoré’s military government has moved to strengthen their hold onto Burkina Faso’s institutions and pause the planned democratic transition started in January 2022, after a first coup led by Paul-Henri Damiba overthrew the civilian government of Marc Kaboré.
Last year, the junta announced the postponement of national elections and extended the “transition period” by another five years, allowing Ibrahim Traoré to remain in power until 2029 at least.
Ibrahim Traoré’s rule has been characterized by a sharp deterioration of Burkina Faso’s security, threatened by a decade-long jihadi insurgency from multiple groups – including the powerful Al-Qaeda affiliate JNIM – which has claimed the lives of more than 20,000 people and displaced 2 million (or 10% of the total population) with between 30% (junta numbers) and 60% (other estimates) of the national territory escaping the central government’s control.
Traoré’s style of governance also marked a strong authoritarian turn for Burkina Faso, which had for long been, amid dictatorships and fragile democratic moments, a regional exception in the Sahel in terms of individual and press freedoms. The Economist Intelligence Unit classified Burkina Faso as one of its worst global performers on its Democracy Index, dropping by 1.50 pts since Traoré’s coup.
Under Ibrahim Traoré’s government, basic freedoms were restricted by decree in the name of national security, opposition parties have been banned, and figures of civil society – judges, lawyers, journalists, activists – are routinely threatened, kidnapped, and for some, forced to enrol in the armed forces and sent to the frontlines.
Ibrahim Traoré’s military government justified these measures by the imperatives of national unity – but also promotes, through an intense PR campaign on social media, their “alternative” form of government founded on the rejection of liberal democracy, the rule of law, and “neo-colonialism”, and boasts of a restored sovereignty, strength and patriotism.
While Burkina Faso has experienced the starkest authoritarian turn, Traoré’s rule is part of a wider trend in West and Central Africa (and the world): since 2020, nine military coups have occurred in the region – only in Gabon was an electoral process and a transition period conducted successfully, although the coup leader won uncontested – and democratic backsliding concerns have been raised in Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, and Nigeria.
JaceFlores on
Big Tomato is onto something in Burkina Faso. Just don’t know what
MeringueSuccessful33 on
Military junta doing junta things
Acoolgamer6706 on
B-but they have such great potential… they’re the first formally French colonised nation in the South of the Sahara to produce Tomato Concentrate!
Room480 on
I wonder what burkino faso would be like if sankara hadn’t been assinated
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!ping AFRICA&DEMOCRACY
Burkina Faso’s ruling junta issued a decree on Wednesday, July 16, dissolving the country’s independent electoral commission and placing future electoral processes under the control of the military government, arguing the commission was a “waste of money” and “vulnerable to foreign interferences”.
Since seizing power in a coup in September 2022, Ibrahim Traoré’s military government has moved to strengthen their hold onto Burkina Faso’s institutions and pause the planned democratic transition started in January 2022, after a first coup led by Paul-Henri Damiba overthrew the civilian government of Marc Kaboré.
Last year, the junta announced the postponement of national elections and extended the “transition period” by another five years, allowing Ibrahim Traoré to remain in power until 2029 at least.
Ibrahim Traoré’s rule has been characterized by a sharp deterioration of Burkina Faso’s security, threatened by a decade-long jihadi insurgency from multiple groups – including the powerful Al-Qaeda affiliate JNIM – which has claimed the lives of more than 20,000 people and displaced 2 million (or 10% of the total population) with between 30% (junta numbers) and 60% (other estimates) of the national territory escaping the central government’s control.
Traoré’s style of governance also marked a strong authoritarian turn for Burkina Faso, which had for long been, amid dictatorships and fragile democratic moments, a regional exception in the Sahel in terms of individual and press freedoms. The Economist Intelligence Unit classified Burkina Faso as one of its worst global performers on its Democracy Index, dropping by 1.50 pts since Traoré’s coup.
Under Ibrahim Traoré’s government, basic freedoms were restricted by decree in the name of national security, opposition parties have been banned, and figures of civil society – judges, lawyers, journalists, activists – are routinely threatened, kidnapped, and for some, forced to enrol in the armed forces and sent to the frontlines.
Ibrahim Traoré’s military government justified these measures by the imperatives of national unity – but also promotes, through an intense PR campaign on social media, their “alternative” form of government founded on the rejection of liberal democracy, the rule of law, and “neo-colonialism”, and boasts of a restored sovereignty, strength and patriotism.
While Burkina Faso has experienced the starkest authoritarian turn, Traoré’s rule is part of a wider trend in West and Central Africa (and the world): since 2020, nine military coups have occurred in the region – only in Gabon was an electoral process and a transition period conducted successfully, although the coup leader won uncontested – and democratic backsliding concerns have been raised in Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, and Nigeria.
Big Tomato is onto something in Burkina Faso. Just don’t know what
Military junta doing junta things
B-but they have such great potential… they’re the first formally French colonised nation in the South of the Sahara to produce Tomato Concentrate!
I wonder what burkino faso would be like if sankara hadn’t been assinated