Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, president of the transition in Burkina Faso, who came to power by a putsch at the end of January in this country undermined by jihadist violence, has dismissed his Minister of Defense Barthélémy Simporé, and replaces him at this post, according to decrees published Monday, September 12.

The first decree, read on national television, mentions the replacement of Barthélémy Simporé.

The second indicates that Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba "President of Faso assumes the functions of Minister of National Defense and Veterans".

At his side, Colonel-Major Silas Keita was appointed Minister Delegate in charge of National Defense and promoted to Brigadier General.

He is the only new member of the government in this mini-reshuffle, the first since the appointment of a transitional government in March.

bloody september

At that time, Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba had chosen to keep General Simporé, appointed by the overthrown president Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, in his post.

But since the putsch, where the military promised to make the anti-jihadist fight a priority, the attacks have not stopped in Burkina.

And this beginning of September is even particularly bloody.

On Monday, two soldiers were killed and a "dozen terrorists neutralized" during a "complex attack" against a military detachment in the province of Oudalan (North).

On September 5, at least 35 civilians, including women and children, were killed by the explosion of an improvised device as a supply convoy passed between Djibo and Bourzanga.

The following day, at least nine people, seven civilians and two soldiers, were killed in two separate attacks by suspected jihadists, which targeted civilians and a military patrol.

At the beginning of September, President Damiba had however spoken from the city of Dori (north-east) to welcome a “relative calm” in several localities.

He assured that the "offensive actions" of the army had intensified and affirmed that the process of dialogue with certain armed groups, via religious and customary leaders, had enabled "dozens of young people" to lay down their arms.

But the attacks remain numerous and several cities in the North are even now subject to a blockade by jihadists who blow up bridges with dynamite and attack supply convoys circulating in the area.

This is not the first time that the Burkinabè president has served as Minister of Defence.

Blaise Compaoré, chased in October 2014 by the street after 27 years in power, had also held this portfolio, as did Roch Marc Christian Kaboré between 2016 and 2017.

With AFP

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