Burkina Faso junta fires prime minister, dissolves government

Burkina Faso’s ruling junta has dismissed interim Prime Minister Apollinaire Joachim Kyelem de Tambela and dissolved the government, a decree issued by the office of military leader Ibrahim Traore said on Friday.

The decree did not give a reason for the dismissal of Tambela, who was appointed interim premier soon after Traore seized power in September 2022 – one of a string of military coups in West Africa’s unstable Sahel region in recent years.

Members of the dissolved government will continue in their roles until a new cabinet is named, the decree said.

Burkina has been fighting insurgents, some with links to al-Qaeda and ISIS, since they spread into its territory from neighboring Mali almost a decade ago.

Traore vowed to do better than his predecessors when he assumed command in 2022, but the security situation has deteriorated further under his regime, which has also cracked down on dissent, analysts, rights groups and humanitarian workers say.