The defence minister announced on Friday that the army of Burkina Faso will implement a new plan to drive back jihadist militants and retake lost territory.
A seven-year-old insurrection that has displaced 1.9 million people and claimed more than 2,000 lives is gripping the landlocked Sahel state.
Although the insurgency in Burkina Faso has been concentrated in the north and east and is being directed by attackers thought to have ties to Al-Qaeda or the Islamic State group, other areas have not been spared.
The elected president of Roch Marc Christian Kabore was overthrown in January by disgruntled colonels under the leadership of Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, who was charged with failing to address the security problem.
General Barthelemy Simpore, the defence minister, stated at a press conference that the army will reorganize fighting units to retake rebel-held territory and let displaced people to safely return home.
According to him, the objective was to “limit the ability of the armed terrorist groups to move and safeguard places that are not yet at risk.”
When finished, “the operational reorganization” will make it possible to regain control over all of the territories under terrorists’ control.
The minister made no specific comments about how the military would be reorganized in actuality.
However, he promised that “territorial integrity” and government administration would be reinstated.
According to official statistics, the state does not have jurisdiction over more than 40% of Burkina’s land area.
Since Damiba’s coup, security hasn’t gotten any better as Islamist attacks on soldiers and civilians have increased.
Around 40 individuals, including 20 troops, were killed between August 4 and August 10 in numerous incidents in northern Burkina Faso that were attributed to armed jihadists.
