Burkina Faso decreed, Thursday, April 13, "the general mobilization" to face the security crisis that the country is going through, plagued by an upsurge of terrorist attacks.

"It is above all through this decree to give a legal and legal framework to all the actions to be implemented to deal with the situation that Burkina Faso is experiencing," said a statement from the presidency, published at the end of the Council of Ministers.

"Faced with the security situation facing Burkina Faso, the salvation of the nation rests on a national awakening of all daughters and sons in order to find a solution," said Minister of State, Minister of Defense and Veterans Affairs, Colonel-Major Kassoum Coulibaly.

However, the precise contours of this mobilization have not been detailed.

"The general mobilization makes certain defensive measures applicable throughout the territory. It leads to a state of emergency in the parts of the territory concerned," a senior security source told AFP.

Territorial integrity under threat

The authorities also decreed the "warning" which, according to the security source, includes a set of measures decided by the head of state aimed at "ensuring the freedom of action of the government (...) and to guarantee the security of mobilization operations or the activation of the armed forces".

According to the law on the organization of national defense, "in the event of danger threatening security and territorial integrity, the security of institutions and that of the population, the Head of State may, in addition to a state of emergency, decree for all or part of the national territory: warning, state of emergency, general mobilization".

Burkina Faso, the scene of two military coups in 2022, has been caught since 2015 in a spiral of violence that appeared in Mali and Niger a few years ago and that has spread beyond their borders.

Last week, 44 civilians were killed when two villages in the north-east of the country near the Nigerien border were attacked.

Over the past seven years, more than 10,000 people have been killed – civilians and soldiers – according to NGOs, and some two million people have been displaced.

With AFP

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