BURKINA FASO’S military leadership may stay in place for the next five years, according to a charter agreed at the weekend.

Colonel Moussa Diallo, who chaired the organising committee of a “national dialogue process,” said: “The duration of the transition [to an elected government] is fixed at 60 months from July 2, 2024.”

The dialogue in Ouagadougou involved civil society representatives, security and military officials and legislators in the transitional assembly, itself composed of representatives from different sectors as well as traditional and religious leaders. 

Most political parties boycotted the talks, but these are viewed with suspicion by the junta as representatives of a political system it, like neighbouring west African states which have also undergone military takeovers including Mali and Niger, sees as dominated by foreign, mainly French, interests.

Late last year, junta leader Captain Ibrahim Traore said establishing security was the priority before trying to hold elections, pointing out that about half of the country has long been controlled by jihadist groups — a long-running French-led military deployment in the region having failed to suppress the jihadist insurgency — and that elections should take place across the whole country, not just in the capital and a few safe neighbouring towns.

He has also begun a constitutional reform process aimed at empowering “the masses,” which abolishes old-regime institutions like the Economic and Social Council and the Burkina Faso Ombudsman and includes measures designed to democratise the courts.

Since the September 2022 coup, Burkina Faso has withdrawn from the regional Ecowas bloc and together with Mali and Niger formed the Alliance of Sahel States. Last month it expelled three French diplomats, accusing them of plotting to overthrow it.