Burkina Faso’s acting president Captain Ibrahim Traoré, who seized power following a 2022 coup, signed a new amended Transition Charter Saturday that extends the transition period to five years. The original charter called for the transition period to end in July 2024.

Article 22 of the new Transition Charter states that the duration of the transition is set at sixty months starting from July 2, 2024. The provision also states that elections marking the end of the transition may be organized before this deadline if the security situation permits. In September 2024, Traore announced on national television that there would be no elections in the country until security concerns were addressed, emphasizing that elections were not a priority.

The amended Transition Charter in Burkina Faso also includes several new provisions. For instance, according to Article 5, Captain Traoré now holds the titles of President of Faso, Head of State, and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. Additionally, Traoré, along with the Prime Minister and the President of the Transitional Legislative Assembly, will be eligible to run in the presidential, legislative, and municipal elections organized to mark the end of the transition period.

An alarming pattern has emerged across West Africa where military forces have overthrown democratically-elected governments, accusing them of breaking promises made to citizens. Burkina Faso has been caught up in this trend. In September 2022, the current military junta took power by ousting the previous military regime under Lt. Col. Paul Henri Sandaogo Damiba, which had itself seized control just eight months prior through a coup that removed President Roch Marc Kaboré from his elected position. Following the latest coup, Captain Traoré was appointed as the transitional president. However, since taking over, Traoré’s junta has grappled with addressing the very security issues cited as the rationale for the September 2022 power grab.

Reports from Human Rights Watch (HRW) depict a grim reality of worsening human rights conditions in Burkina Faso throughout 2023. The country experienced a sharp rise in fatal attacks carried out by Islamist armed groups targeting civilian populations, while the military and pro-government militias engaged in abuses during counterinsurgency operations. According to HRW, “Conflict-related violence [in Burkina Faso] resulted in the deaths of nearly 7,600 people in over 2,000 incidents in 2023 alone. The conflict has also forced over 2 million people from their homes since it began in 2016.”