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1 [1] (September 28, 2023)

handle is hein.crs/govemzw0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Service informing the legisi itive debate sin&ce 1914 Burkina Faso: Conflict and Military Rule Burkina Faso experienced two military coups in 2022, part of a wave of military seizures of power in Africa. Successive governments have been unable to contain the spread of violence by insurgents affiliated with Al Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS). Abuses by state security forces and militias appear to have fueled insurgent recruitment. Conflicts have caused a spiraling humanitarian emergency in the already impoverished country. Following a pattern set by neighboring Mali, Burkina Faso's junta has ended military cooperation with former colonial power France and pursued closer ties with Moscow. Russia's Wagner Group has been active in Mali since 2021. Since the death of Wagner's founder in August 2023, Russia's government has signaled an intent to exercise more direct control over the group's operations, and top Russian officials have engaged in outreach to Burkina Faso. Burkina Faso and Mali have vowed to defend the junta in neighboring Niger-where soldiers ousted the elected president in July 2023-from regional sanctions and from a threatened regional military intervention. Developments in Burkina Faso, once viewed as a nascent democracy and U.S. regional security partner, are part of a chain of setbacks for U.S. policymakers in the region. Militaries have seized power in seven African countries since 2020. Security and humanitarian crises in the Sahel appear likely to deteriorate further, given tensions in Niger, France's military drawdown, the withdrawal of the U.N. peacekeeping operation in Mali, resurgent hostilities between Mali's military and northern separatist rebels, and the Wagner Group's regional activities (however these are restructured). An Uncertain Military-Led Transition Self-declared Transition President Capt. Ibrahim Traord is the world's youngest head of state at age 35. He has emphasized national sovereignty and self-reliance, themes with strong historical resonance in Burkina Faso. Apollinaire Joachim Kydlem de Tambela, a lawyer and media commentator, is serving as Prime Minister. Traord has been in power since September 2022, when he ousted the previous coup leader, Lt. Col. Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba. The second coup came amid a renewed wave of tensions in the military and on the streets over authorities' inability to stem insurgent attacks. Rivalry among specialized military units may also have been a factor. Authorities have since claimed to foil several coup plots. Traord has pledged to keep his predecessor's commitment (made under threat of regional sanctions) to hold elections by July 2024, but prospects appear uncertain. Authorities have not issued a clear timeline for stated transition goals, including a new constitution. How conflict-affected areas might participate is also unclear. State intimidation, security-related legal restrictions, and bans on several Updated September 28, 2023 media outlets have inhibited political competition and free expression, as have insurgent threats. Figure I. Burkina Faso at a Glance Source: CIA World Factbook, IMF; 2023 figures unless noted. Backgroun d Burkina Faso has a history of military mutinies, coups, and social unrest, though it was seen as relatively stable under former authoritarian leader Blaise Compaord, who came to power in a 1987 coup. A towering and controversial figure in West African politics, Compaord was ousted in a popular uprising in 2014 while trying to bypass constitutional term limits. Civilian politician Roch Marc Christian Kabord was elected in 2015, after a failed coup attempt against the civilian-led transitional government by officers associated with Compaord. Kabort was Burkina Faso's first post- independence leader to enter office via elections. In his first term, President Kabord faced growing public demands for security amid growing insurgent threats, along with job creation, governance reforms, and accountability for abuses under Compaord. Among other controversial actions, Kabord oversaw the expansion of state-backed militias and volunteer fighters that human rights groups have accused of abuses. He was reelected in 2020 in a vote that local civil society observers deemed satisfactory, although opposition leaders initially claimed fraud; insecurity prevented voting in several areas. Kabord was ousted in a coup led by Lt. Col. Damiba in January 2022. Terrorsm and Insurgency Armed Islamist violence erupted in Burkina Faso in 2016, as conflicts expanded in neighboring Mali. That year, Al Qaeda-affiliated groups carried out an unprecedented terrorist attack in Ouagadougou (Figure 1), killing 30 people, including an American. At the same time, a locally- led Islamist insurgency, Ansarul Islam, emerged in the rural

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