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Events in the year 2024 in Burkina Faso .
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Events in the year 2024 in Burkina Faso .
Source: [9]
Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa. It covers an area of 274,223 km2 (105,878 sq mi), bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Ivory Coast to the southwest. As of 2021, the country had an estimated population of 23,674,480. Previously called Republic of Upper Volta (1958–1984), it was renamed Burkina Faso by President Thomas Sankara. Its citizens are known as Burkinabè, and its capital and largest city is Ouagadougou.
The Politics of Burkina Faso takes place in a framework of a semi-presidential republic, whereby the Prime Minister of Burkina Faso is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. The President of Burkina Faso is the head of state. Executive power is exercised by both the President and the Government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and parliament. The party system was dominated by the Congress for Democracy and Progress (CDP) until 2014. Burkina Faso's CDP fell victim to a series of demonstrations and riots, to alter the constitution and extend the former president's term in office - referred to as the 2014 Burkinabé uprising. The military then declared itself to be in power and the state shifted to an electoral autocracy. Burkina Faso lacks the foundation that would support a democracy, with its current transition to a military regime, but not all hope is lost. After an internal coup ousted Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, the previous military head of state, a new transitional charter was adopted, naming Captain Ibrahim Traoré as president. Mr. Damiba's progressional failures on the state's security front “swung a majority of domestic opinion in favour of the MPSR”. Mr. Traoré pledged a major reinforcement of armed forces to strengthen frontline units and recruited over 3,000 more troops. As the violence becomes so entrenched, it is nonetheless expected that the security situation will remain dire in the medium term. “However, we expect that elections will still be held in 2024 as part of the army's plan to stabilise the security situation by boosting counter-terrorism operations.”
The Catholic Church in Burkina Faso is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome. According to the CIA Factbook, in 2018, 17% of the population are members of the Catholic Church.
An ongoing war and civil conflict between the Government of Burkina Faso and Islamist rebels began in August 2015 and has led to the displacement of over 2 million people and the deaths of at least 10,000 civilians and combatants.
Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba is a Burkinabè military officer who served as interim president of Burkina Faso from 31 January 2022 to 30 September 2022, when he was removed in a coup d'état, by his own military colleague Ibrahim Traoré. Damiba had come to power just eight months earlier, on 24 January 2022, when he removed President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré in a coup.
An Islamist insurgency has been ongoing in the Sahel region of West Africa since the 2011 Arab Spring. In particular, the intensive conflict in the three countries of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso has been referred to as the Sahel War.
A coup d'état took place in Burkina Faso on 30 September 2022, removing Interim President Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba over his alleged inability to deal with the country's Islamist insurgency. Damiba had come to power in a coup d'état eight months earlier. Captain Ibrahim Traoré took over as interim leader.
Ibrahim Traoré is a Burkinabè military officer who has been the interim leader of Burkina Faso since the 30 September 2022 coup d'état that ousted interim president Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba. At age 36, Traoré is currently the second youngest serving state leader in the world, and the youngest serving president.
The siege of Djibo is an ongoing blockade of the city of Djibo in Burkina Faso by several factions of Jihadist Islamist rebels. The siege began in February 2022, and is part of the Jihadist insurgency in Burkina Faso.
In early April 2023, jihadists killed at least 44 civilians in the towns of Kourakou and Tondobi in Séno Province, Sahel Region, Burkina Faso.
On March 20, 2022, unknown jihadists ambushed Burkinabe soldiers in Natiaboani, Gourma Province, Burkina Faso, killing thirteen soldiers and an unknown number of jihadists.
The Alliance of Sahel States (ASS) is a mutual defense pact created between Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso on 16 September 2023. The pact was created during the 2023 Nigerien crisis in which the West African political bloc ECOWAS threatened to intervene militarily to restore civilian rule after a coup in Niger earlier that year. All of these three states were increasing ties to Russia during creation of the organization. As such Russia is presumed to be brokering this agreement. EU Foreign Minister Josep Borrell stated it led to a "new geopolitical configuration" in the region.
On 26 September 2023, dissidents of the Burkina Faso Armed Forces attempted to overthrow the ruling military junta led by Ibrahim Traoré, which came to power a year earlier.
On October 29, 2022, gunmen from Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin ambushed a convoy of Burkinabé soldiers near the village of Kikideni while they were on their way from Fada N'gourma to Natiaboani, Est Region, Burkina Faso.
On January 11, 2023, unknown jihadists killed nine civilians at a mosque in Goulgountou, Burkina Faso.
On January 28, 2023, suspected Islamic State jihadists attacked Burkinabe soldiers and Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDP) militiamen in the city of Falagountou, Burkina Faso.
Lionel Joel I Wendkouni Bilgo is a Burkinabe economist, political analyst, and writer who served as the Minister of Education of Burkina Faso during the Patriotic Movement for Safeguard and Restoration government.
On 25 February 2024, members of the Burkina Faso Armed Forces allegedly summarily executed around 223 civilians, including 56 children, in Yatenga Province, northern Burkina Faso. The massacres took place in the villages of Nondin and Soro, and were perpetrated in retaliation for alleged civilian collaboration with jihadist militias. The Human Rights Watch (HRW) described the killings as one of the worst Burkinabe army abuses since 2015.
