‘It’s not for us’, Burkina junta chief says country must ‘forget’ democracy

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Ibrahim Traore, the military leader of Burkina Faso

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The people of Burkina Faso must “forget” about democracy, said the country’s junta ruler on Thursday in an interview broadcast on national television.

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Captain Ibrahim Traore took over in a September 2022 coup after toppling another junta, and has sharply muzzled dissenting voices since then.

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The military government dissolved the country’s electoral commission last year and then in February, the junta-led parliament dissolved all political parties, whose activities had been suspended since 2022.

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“We’re not even talking about elections, first of all,” Traore said in the interview with state broadcaster RTB.

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“People need to forget about the issue of democracy. Democracy isn’t for us.”

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The country’s stated transition to democratic rule, initiated after the first coup in January 2022, was scheduled to end in July 2024.

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But the junta that year decided to extend the transition period by five years, allowing Traore to remain at the helm of the country, plagued by jihadist violence that has claimed thousands of lives for nearly 10 years.

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The United Nations has urged Burkina to reverse the decision to ban political parties and stop the repression of civic space.

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Since coming to power, the junta, which is hostile to Western countries and particularly France, has banned or suspended numerous international media outlets and expelled some of their journalists.

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