A national conference in Burkina Faso has authorized the ruling junta to hold power for three years, potentially setting the West African country on a collision course with international partners who have urged a speedy return to constitutional order. The junta seized power in a January coup against President Roch Kabore, blaming him for failing to contain surging violence by Islamist militants. The putsch was led by Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Damiba, who is now interim president.
The charter was approved by the conference and signed by Damiba in the early hours of Tuesday after a day-long debate in the capital Ouagadougou. It will establish a transitional government made up of 25 ministers and a 71-member parliament. The 15-member Economic Community of West African States, which has imposed strict sanctions against other countries in the region in response to military coups, did not respond to a request for comment about whether it found the three-year transitional period acceptable. Burkina Faso's coup was the fourth in West Africa in 18 months, following two in Mali and one in Guinea. This has raised concerns of a backslide in democracy in a region that had been shedding its reputation as the continent's "coup belt."
Read more here.
