Following his inauguration as Burkina Faso’s new president, coup leader Paul-Henri Damiba promised to deal with the country’s growing instability.
His inauguration ceremony, which was televised on television but was not attended by any foreign dignitaries, was held in a small room inside the Constitutional Council’s offices.
The 41-year-old lieutenant colonel began his statement with a minute of silence for soldiers murdered in the six-year war against Islamist extremists.
“To… achieve the upper hand over the enemy, it will be necessary… to rise and convince ourselves that as a nation we have more than what it takes to win this war,” he is quoted as saying by the Reuters news agency.
The man who overthrew President Roch Kaboré for his handling of the Islamist insurgency pledged to rebuild the security services, increase intelligence-field operations linkages, and fight corruption.
“Burkina Faso reiterates its readiness to cooperate in full sovereignty with all partners in mutual respect,” he said, according to AFP, a gesture to ECOWAS, the regional group that suspended the country three years ago following the coup.
BBC
