Military rulers in Burkina Faso have confirmed the launching of a drive to recruit tens of thousands of civilian volunteers to help fight Islamist extremists.
The commander of the force who will be referred to as Volunteers for the Defence of the Fatherland, said the aim was to enlist 35,000 new members.
Africa Today News, New York reports that candidates will receive two weeks of military training before taking part in operations across the country, which has been battling a jihadist insurgency since 2015.
Recall that there have been 2 military coups in Burkina Faso in 2022 alone with the leaders of both promising to end the violence.
The young army captain who led the latest coup in Burkina Faso, Ibrahim Traore will on Friday be inaugurated as interim president, according to a statement made public by the constitutional council.
The 34-year-old Captain Ibrahim Traore, was the one that led the disgruntled junior officers last month in the second coup in eight months to hit the jihadist-torn west African country.
Junta members had already disclosed that he would take over the role of transitional president, however, the official investiture will happen on Friday.
The constitutional council had on Wednesday disclosed that it ‘officially notes the vacancy of the presidency,’ adding that Traore had been designated as ‘president of the transition, head of state, supreme chief of the national armed forces’ by a national meeting of the country’s forces.
Africa Today News, New York recalls that sometime last month Traore toppled Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba.
In its statement recently, the council said it took note of Damiba’s “resignation”.
Damiba himself had seized power only in January, forcing out Burkina’s last elected president, Roch Marc Christian Kabore.