Burkina Faso’s coup leader appointed transitional president

KIGALI, Rwanda (AA) – A national meeting in Burkina Faso has endorsed coup leader, Capt. Ibrahim Traore, as the transitional president, two weeks after he led a second coup in eight months in the West African country.

Traore is expected to lead the country until elections in July 2024, according to a transitional charter.

Last month, Traore, 34, led a group of disgruntled soldiers who deposed Lt. Col. Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba who had seized power in January.

Traore’s appointment was widely expected after he was named president under a “fundamental act” adopted by the junta group calling itself the Patriotic Movement for Safeguarding and Restoration (MPSR).

Before his appointment, demonstrators rallied in Ouagadougou to protest speculation that senior army officers had wanted to sideline Traore.

Traore was given the rank of captain in 2020 after returning from the UN’s MINUSMA peacekeeping mission in neighboring Mali in 2018.

After the January coup that deposed President Roch Marc Christian Kabore, Traore became a member of the MPSR.

The national forum also examined the transitional charter.

Burkina Faso has suffered persistent insecurity posed by an insurgency that spread from Mali in the past decade.

Kabore and Damiba were accused of failing to address growing insecurity posed by terror groups in parts of the country.

Violent insecurity has displaced more than 1.5 million people as of Aug. 31, according to official data.