Burkina Faso’s acting president, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, in power since the 2022 coup, has signed a new amended Transition Charter that extends the nation’s transition period to five years, an extension from the original intent to conclude the transition by July 2024 as indicated in the original charter.
The new Transition Charter places the expiration of the transition period at sixty months starting from July 2, 2024. The new charter allows for elections well before the end of the transition if the security condition allows, according to Article 22. Security concerns previously led Captain Traoré to announce the suspension of elections.
Furthermore, the amended Transition Charter includes significant provisions, such as a title change for Captain Traoré to The President of Faso, Head of State, and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. Additionally, Traoré along with the Prime Minister and the President of the Transitional Legislative Assembly will be eligible candidates in the upcoming presidential, legislative, and municipal elections that will mark the end of the transitional period.
Sadly, this development is not unique to Burkina Faso; a concerning pattern has been noted across West Africa where military forces displace democratically-elected governments, supposedly breaching commitments to their citizens. In addition, Burkina Faso has not been successful in resolving security issues, a primary justification for the September 2022 power capture.
Further exacerbating this grim landscape, reports from Human Rights Watch indicate a significant rise in fatal attacks targeting civilian populations during 2023, an unprecedented deterioration in human rights conditions within Burkina Faso. Conflict-related violence has resulted in nearly 7,600 fatalities from over 2,000 incidents in 2023 alone. The conflict has, in addition, forced over 2 million people from their homes since its inception in 2016.