By John Ikani
Burkina Faso’s military ruler, Colonel Paul-Henri Damiba, has sacked his defence minister over Increased jihadist violence attacks in the West African nation.
In two decrees read out on national television, the junta chief said he was dismissing General Barthelemy Simpore and assuming the role himself.
In another change, Colonel-Major Silas Keita was named minister delegate in charge of national defence and promoted to brigadier general. He was the only new minister introduced.
Damiba headed a group of officers who mounted a coup on January 24, toppling elected leader Roch Marc Christian Kabore, who had failed to stem the jihadist insurgency that first emerged in Mali in 2012.
Much of the Sahel region is now battling the insurgency after it spread to Burkina Faso in 2015, then to Niger. In recent years, the violence has also begun to spill over into West African coastal states Ivory Coast and Togo.
The shuffle follows a string of deadly jihadist attacks this month in the landlocked West African country, where the insurgency has claimed more than 2,000 lives and forced about 1.4 million people to leave their homes.
Attacks have increased since the start of the year, despite the junta’s vow to make security its top priority.
In early September, Damiba had welcomed a “relative calm” in several locations. He said “offensive actions” by the army had been intensified and asserted that a dialogue process with certain armed groups had led “dozens of youth” to lay down their arms.
But the attacks remain numerous with more than 40 percent of the country now outside government control.
