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Despite planned transition, Burkina Faso’s head of junta appoints Prime Minister

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Despite announcing plans for transition into civil government on Tuesday, Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba of Burkina Faso has appointed 53-year-old Albert Ouédraogo as prime minister.

Slamreportafrica reported on Wednesday that Burkina Faso’s ruling junta, the Patriotic Movement for Safeguard and Restoration (MPSR), had signed a charter setting a three-year transition period before the country holds elections.

The Burkina Faso strongman, was also ceremonially sworn in as president on Wednesday at a brief occasion to officialize his position in the presence of representatives of the army, political parties, trade unions and the diplomatic corps.

By declaring himself President, the 41-year-old lieutenant-colonel has followed a pattern of some notable African military dictators like General Ibrahim Babangida of Nigeria who also wore the toga of being addressed president.

Lieutenant Colonel Damiba signed the degree which installed Mr. Albert Ouédraogo as Prime Minister stressing that “the new Prime Minister has solid experience in the management of public administrations, development projects and private companies,” according to the presidency. “He has conducted several study missions on the development of the private sector and organisational audits and the drafting of procedure manuals,”

Ouédraogo is an economist by training, an academic, and was up till his appointment as Prime Minister the head of a consulting and auditing firm since 2007.

Having been sworn in as President and with the latest appointment of a Prime Minister, Burkina Faso’s national government structure now resembles a parliamentary system of government where a ceremonial head of state is different from the head of government. It is however short of the ideal parliamentary majority because it did not come into power through a popular election, nor is the said Prime Minister from a legislative parliament.  

The coup that brought the current junta into power in Burkina Faso was launched on 23 January 2022 when gunfire erupted in front of the presidential residence in the Burkinabé capital Ouagadougou and several military barracks around the city.

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Politics

Sudan’s RSF chief accuses Egypt of bombing troops

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In a speech that was released on Wednesday, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, the leader of the Sudanese paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), accused Egypt of carrying out airstrikes on the group’s soldiers.

The army of the nation, which has just gotten the upper hand in the fight that has devastated the nation for nearly eighteen months, was also accused by him of receiving drones and training from Cairo.

Later, in a statement, the Egyptian foreign ministry refuted Hemedti’s claims that Egyptian aircraft was involved in the continuing conflict in Sudan.

“While Egypt denies those claims, it calls on the international community to ascertain the evidence that proves the truth of what the RSF militia leader said,” the foreign ministry added.

Egypt has joined Saudi Arabia and the United States’ efforts to resolve the situation, despite the perception that Egypt is close to the Sudanese army and its commander, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.

Earlier this year, Cairo played host to meetings between opposing political groupings. Hemedti said in his prerecorded video message that Egypt had attacked using American munitions.

“If the Americans were not in agreement these bombs would not reach Sudan,” he added.

In addition, he mentioned the presence of mercenaries from Tigray, Eritrea, Azerbaijan, and Ukraine in the nation and restated claims that Iranians fought with the army.

The army has recently advanced towards the southeast Sennar state and the capital Khartoum, Sudan; Hemedti said that his men were forced to retreat from the vital Jebel Moya region by purported Egyptian airstrikes.

The head of the RSF stated: “This war will not end in one or two, three, or four years,” seemingly shifting the tone from earlier remarks in favour of peace initiatives. We will soon exceed one million soldiers, as some have mentioned.

Since the conflict in Sudan broke out in April 2023, about 10 million people have been pushed from their homes, famine and widespread hunger have been brought on, and waves of violence motivated by ethnic differences have been mostly attributed to the RSF.

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Rwandan foreign minister claims Congo refused M23 peace offer

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Rwandan Foreign Minister, Olivier Nduhungirehe, has claimed that his Congolese colleague had refused to sign a pact to address the M23 rebel violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Since 2022, the Tutsi-led M23 has been fighting in the violence-torn east of central Africa, displacing over 1.7 million people.

Congo, the UN, and others accuse Rwanda of providing troops and ammunition to the group. Rwanda denies aiding M23 and accuses Congo of fighting alongside the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), which has attacked Tutsis in both countries.

Both nations took part in peace talks in late August to reduce the hostilities, which have exacerbated the humanitarian catastrophe in the area and occasionally stoked concerns about a wider war.

Nduhungirehe told Reuters that a strategy “for neutralising the FDLR and lifting Rwanda’s defence measures” had been agreed upon and signed by participants in the negotiations, including the head of military intelligence for the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

He made this statement on the fringes of a conference in France between leaders of French-speaking nations, saying that ministers were expected to sign this accord on September 14.

“We were ready to sign … but the Congolese minister refused. She first commented on the report and then later, after consultation, she came back. She told us she was opposed to adopting the report.”

According to Nduhungirehe, the plan called for Rwanda to ease its “defence measures” a few days after the activities against the FDLR, however, the Congolese minister objected to these not occurring at the same time.

An inquiry for comment was not immediately answered by a Congolese government representative.

Paul Kagame and Felix Tshisekedi, the leaders of Rwanda and the Congo, were present at the meeting in France. Though a three-way meeting was suggested by French President Emmanuel Macron, the two ultimately had separate private encounters with Macron.

“The situation is still too tense (for a three-way meeting),” Macron told reporters later on Saturday. It “calls for efforts on both sides,” he said calling on the two countries to reach an agreement.

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