Is the prospect of democratic elections receding in Burkina Faso? The Prime Minister said on Tuesday (May 30th) that there could be no elections "without security" in this country regularly hit by terrorist groups, which last weekend killed about forty people in two attacks.

"You can't have elections without security. If you have a magic wand that can give us security as soon as possible, we organize the elections," Apollinaire Joachimson Kyélem of Tambèla told the transitional legislative assembly.

Burkina, which has experienced two coups in 2022, has been led since last September by Captain Ibrahim Traoré. The military is due to return power to civilians in July 2024, after a presidential election.

"If we organize elections now, while part of the territory is inaccessible, we will say that whoever is elected is badly elected," the prime minister said Tuesday. "For the elections to be accepted, at least most of the country must be able to participate."

Since 2015, Burkina Faso has been caught in a spiral of violence that began in Mali and Niger a few years ago and has spread beyond their borders.

More than 100 killed in May

On Saturday, a "secure convoy" was "the target of an attack by armed men" near Bourasso, said a statement from the governorate of the Boucle du Mouhoun region, close to Mali, without mentioning any deaths but mentioning 18 wounded.

"This attack caused the death of about twenty people, mainly VDP (Volunteers for the Defense of the Fatherland, civilian auxiliaries of the army)," said a local official on condition of anonymity.

Confirming the attack, a security source said that "air support deployed after the ambush made it possible to detect and neutralize about thirty terrorists", northeast of Bourasso.

On Sunday, "another group attacked the populations of Ouakara, still in the region of the Boucle du Mouhoun, making innocent victims among the inhabitants," continued the same source.

"We recorded about twenty people killed by the attackers who burst into the village of Ouakara," located about 100 kilometers from Bourasso, told AFP a resident, adding that "the balance sheet is provisional".

In recent weeks, violent attacks have increased in the Boucle du Mouhoun region, bordering Mali. Between 13 May and 21 May, the area was the target of three deadly attacks on villages.

But other territories, such as the province of Kompienga, close to Togo and Benin, or the Sahel region in the far north of the country, are also affected by attacks.

In total, more than 100 people died in various terrorist offensives in May.

Refusal to negotiate with "terrorist hordes"

The approximately 50,000 VDPs currently registered in the country – civilian army auxiliaries trained for one to two months – are paying a heavy price in the fight against terrorism in Burkina Faso.

On Tuesday, Burkina Faso's Prime Minister, Apollinaire Kyélem de Tambèla, reaffirmed the government's willingness to increase their numbers in the army.

"Our ambition is to increase the number of VDPs to 100,000 and even beyond," he announced during his speech on the situation of the nation before the transitional legislative assembly.

" READ ALSO Recruitment of civilians in Burkina Faso: "A great classic of regular armies in difficulty"

The head of government also said that "there is no possible negotiation" with the "terrorist hordes".

"We will never negotiate neither the territorial integrity of Burkina Faso nor its sovereignty (...). The only worthwhile negotiation with the armed bandits is the one that is currently taking place on the battlefield," he added.

Over the past seven years, the violence has left more than 10,000 civilians and soldiers dead, according to NGOs, and more than two million internally displaced.

With AFP

The summary of the week France 24 invites you to look back on the news that marked the week

I subscribe

Take international news with you everywhere! Download the France 24 app