The leader of Burkina Faso’s military junta, Ibrahim Traoré, has denounced that the Army was «politicized» and «infiltrated» and warned that «many people are unaware of the seriousness of the situation» in the African country, in the face of increasing attacks by jihadist groups.
«The future of this country is in their hands. Many people ignore the seriousness of the situation in which we find ourselves,» he said, before stressing that the military junta «fights and observes,» as reported by the Burkina Faso news portal Burkina 24.
Thus, he pointed to «selfish interests» that have provoked the crisis in Burkina Faso and defended that «the country is not poor». «We are all guilty of this situation», said Traoré, who asked the population for greater unity to prevent «solidarity from disappearing».
Traoré himself recognized last week «dysfunctionalities» in the fight against terrorism after a visit to a military base in the town of Djibo (north) attacked by jihadists at the end of October, an event which resulted in at least ten soldiers dead and more than 50 wounded.
Traoré led in September an uprising which was considered a ‘palace coup’ by a sector of the military junta against the then leader of the junta, Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba -who has fled to Togo-, took place in the face of the continuous deterioration of the security situation and the attacks by jihadist groups.
Burkina Faso has generally experienced a significant increase in insecurity since 2015, with attacks by both Al Qaeda and Islamic State affiliates, leading to a wave of internally displaced persons and refugees to other countries in the region.
