[dropcap]A[/dropcap] COMMISSION created by the junta that seized power in Burkina Faso last month has proposed a 30-month transition period before the country returns to constitutional rule, mili
tary and government sources said Thursday.
The commission ‘proposes a 30-month transition led’ by junta leader Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, a military source told AFP.
It also suggests ‘the establishment of a small government and legislative body’ with a maximum of 20 and 50 members respectively, the military source told AFP.
The proposal was confirmed by a source close to the presidency, who said that ‘inclusive general elections’ would be held after the transition period.
One of the poorest and most volatile countries in the world, the landlocked Sahel state was rocked by the ouster on January 24 of its elected president, Roch Marc Christian Kabore.
Soldiers angered at his handling of a bloody six-year-old jihadist insurgency took control.
Damiba, was sworn in on February 16 as president, head of state and supreme commander of the armed forces for an interim period — a key issue that remains undefined.
Burkina became the third nation in West Africa, after Mali and Guinea, to suffer a military takeover in less than 18 months.
Mali and Guinea have been hit with tough sanctions by the region’s bloc, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), for delays in returning to civilian rule.
Burkina, like those countries, has been suspended from ECOWAS activities.
But so far it has escaped wider punishment, following talks with en
voys who reported on a positive tone from the junta.
