Burkina Faso
Entire Burkina Faso Cabinet resign, President Kaboré accepts resignation
Entire cabinet members of the Burkina Faso government, including the Prime Minister, Paul Kaba Thieba, have resigned from office.
No reason was given for the move, which was announced in a televised statement by the country’s president.
However, events point that recent unexplained militant and kidnapping activities in the poor land-locked nation in Africa’s Sahel region may have fuelled reasons for a new government.
Thieba, a former economist, had held the position since January 2016 when he was nominated by President Roch Marc Christian Kabore.
President Roch Marc Kabore has accepted the resignation on Friday, according to the Friday statement, saying he expected to form a new government soon.
Attacks by militants have surged in the previously peaceful West African country in recent months. A state of emergency has been in effect since Dec. 31 in several northern provinces near the borders with Mali and Niger.
Recent high-profile disappearances of foreign nationals have led to direct calls for Mr Thieba’s resignation, as well as that of his defence and security ministers. In his statement, President Kabore expressed his gratitude for their service. He said he hoped to form a new government soon.
“A 34-year-old Canadian woman, Edith Blais, and an Italian man, Luca Tacchetto, 30, have been missing in the country since mid-December.
The pair were travelling to Togo to work with an aid group when they disappeared.
Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland met with the 34-year-old’s family on Friday, one day after the announcement another missing Canadian had been found dead.
Kirk Woodman, a geologist, was abducted by gunmen on Tuesday night from a mine exploration camp in the country’s north”, the BBC reports.
Burkina Faso, a poor land-locked nation in Africa’s Sahel region, has seen a surge in Islamist militant activity in recent years.