The military junta in Burkina Faso is in turn facing jihadist violence after a series of attacks, the deadliest since taking power in January, a scourge that the previous government failed to stem.
Twenty-three civilians and thirteen gendarmes died in four attacks in a few days in the region of Dori, one of the main towns in the northeast of the country.
This is the heaviest toll since the arrival at the head of Burkina of Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, who overthrew President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré on January 24, accused by a large part of the population of be ineffective against attacks.
In the wake of Mali and Niger, Burkina Faso has been caught since 2015 in a spiral of violence attributed to jihadist movements, affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group, which have killed more than 2,000 people in the country and forced at least 1.7 million people to flee their homes.
In his public speeches, Mr. Damiba repeated that the fight against terrorism was a priority of the transitional government which must manage the country for the next three years, before elections.
But a month after his swearing in, voices are rising to denounce the lack of concrete announcements so far.
“The Burkinabè are still waiting for the roadmap from the new authorities. The general observation that emerges (…) is that everything is slowing down”, points out the newspaper l’Economiste du Faso in an editorial which nevertheless recognizes “disruptions”. in the military hierarchy, with for example the appointment of a new Chief of Staff.
According to some experts, there is an urgent need to act, as armed groups are increasing their advances in the northeast, particularly in the Dori region.
“The terrorists’ strategy consists of isolating important towns by cutting off access and communication routes. Dori, for example, is isolated and people risk joining armed groups in order to survive,” said Mahamoudou Sawadogo, researcher and expert on of security in the Sahel
“If we continue to drag on, the air force will no longer be useful to us because the terrorists are among the population. We must train the men, go into contact, in hand-to-hand combat”, he adds.
– “Countdown” –
Since taking power, Mr. Damiba has remodeled the structures of the anti-jihadist struggle and went to the field in February to meet the soldiers in the north of the country.
He also appointed a new government in which the defense minister of the previous government, Barthélémy Simporé, was reappointed.
And in a decree published Thursday, he ordered the mobilization of soldiers who have retired over the past three years.
“The junta has assured that it can considerably reduce terrorist attacks in the country in two years. But it is difficult to see the major actions that can give hope that our defense forces will gain the upper hand over the enemy. We are still waiting for major operations” , says political analyst Drissa Traoré.
“There is no state of grace, the countdown is on. These latest attacks, which have killed several dozen people in a few days, sound like a reminder that these actions must be carried out quickly” , he continues.
Will the Burkinabè army call on other countries, neighboring or Western, to help it in its anti-jihadist fight?
Mr. Damiba has not yet officially taken a position on French and European military involvement in the Sahel, but since he came to power, the French Barkhane force has been able to carry out operations in Burkina.