Burkina Faso - Start of the National Conferences with a view to extending the Transition

What's it all about? Burkina Faso's Assises nationales, scheduled for May 25 and 26, 2024, have been convened to take stock and deliberate on the follow-up to the political Transition, which comes to an end on July 1, 2024. As the Transition Charter does not allow the duration of the Transition to be extended by one of its bodies, the Transitional Legislative Assembly (ALT) adopted a Government bill inviting the "forces vives" of the Nation to this political event. Several hundred participants representing political parties, civil society, the armed and security forces, as well as religious and customary leaders, are expected to attend. This process will have to deliberate on the duration, modalities and future orientations of the transitional regime, which supporters are calling for to be extended. However, some sections of public opinion, trade unions and political parties are reluctant to participate. They regret the regime's authoritarian turn, marked by the rollback of public freedoms and arrests of political leaders. Background When Captain Ibrahim Traoré took power on 30 September 2022 following a coup d'état, he agreed a 21-month military transition period with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), during which he intended to strengthen and re-equip the Burkinabe army in order to win back the territories lost to jihadist groups. However, despite significant efforts, marked by a resumption of the military initiative, the recapture of localities and the resettlement of some of the displaced populations, the country is still facing the same security challenges.