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BFF-04
BURKINA-POLITICS
Burkina Faso PM and government resign
OUAGADOUGOU, Jan 19, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Burkina Faso’s government and Prime
Minister Paul Kaba Thieba stood down on Friday, according to a statement
released by the country’s president.
No explanation was given for the resignations, though sources told AFP
President Roch Marc Christian Kabore wants to breathe new life into the
leadership of the landlocked west African country, which is battling a rising
wave of jihadist attacks and hostage-taking.
Canadian Edith Blais, 34, and her Italian partner Luca Tacchetto, 30, have
been missing since mid-December, and late Wednesday a Canadian geologist
kidnapped by suspected jihadists was found dead at a remote gold mine in the
northeast.
“Prime Minister Paul Kaba Thieba submitted this afternoon his resignation
as well as that of his government,” the statement said.
“The president of Faso accepted the resignation” and expressed “all his
gratitude to Prime Minister Paul Kaba Thieba and all its ministers for their
commitment to the service of the nation,” the statement added.
President Kabore chose experienced economist Thieba as prime minister in
January 2016. However, in recent months several political opponents have been
calling for his resignation and that of ministers in charge of security and
defence.
Burkina Faso lies in the heart of the vast Sahel region, which is
struggling with a bloody Islamist insurgency.
The region turned into a hotbed of violent extremism and lawlessness after
chaos engulfed Libya in 2011.
An Islamist insurgency began in northern Mali, while Boko Haram rose in
northern Nigeria.
Jihadist raids began in northern Burkina Faso in 2015 before spreading to
the east, near the border with Togo and Benin.
BSS/AFP/SSS/0906 hrs