The head of Burkina Faso’s junta, Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, signed a charter on Tuesday, putting in place a three-year transition period before the country holds elections. The text was signed a little over a month after he led a coup to overthrow the country's elected leader.
The charter states: "The duration of the transition is set at 36 months from the date of the inauguration of the president."
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This transition period is more than the proposed 30 months put forth by a technical commission that the junta had set up at the beginning of last month. It had also been discussed in meetings with the junta and civil society groups earlier in the week.
Included in those discussions were Burkinabés displaced by jihadist attacks, political parties, unions, and women and youth groups.
The charter indicates that the transition president and 25 members of the transitional government will not be eligible “for the presidential, legislative and municipal elections which will be organised to put an end to the transition."
The charter stipulates that this time will be to strengthen governance and the fight against corruption, but also to “provide an effective and urgent response to the humanitarian crisis and the socio-economic dramas and community caused by insecurity.”
One of its primary goals during the transition is "to fight against terrorism, restore the integrity of the national territory."
Junta leader Damiba replaced former president Roch Marc Christian Kabore in late January, because he felt Kabore did not do enough to combat terrorism.
