Burkina Faso’s prime minister and government resigned on Wednesday amid mounting public outrage over the government’s failure to tackle a spate of Islamist atrocities that have killed thousands of people.
According to a presidential decree, President Roch Marc Christian Kabore, who had previously changed his military command due to the security issue, accepted Prime Minister Christophe Joseph Marie Dabire’s resignation.
According to Burkina Faso legislation, a prime minister’s resignation necessitates the resignation of the entire government.
In a Facebook post following his resignation, Dabire urged citizens to “support the president… and the new executive that will be placed in place.”
“I remain persuaded that only by working together will we be able to solve the issues that our country and people face,” he said.
However, until a new administration is created, the departing administration will be compelled to act as a caretaker, according to government secretary-general Stephane Wenceslas Sanou, who read out the decree on public television.
Dabire was first appointed by Kabore in early 2019, as part of a reshuffle timed to coincide with an uptick in Islamist attacks in the impoverished country.
After the president was re-elected for his second and last term in January 2021, he was re-appointed.
Dabire previously served as Burkina Faso’s representative at the eight-nation West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) and as a minister to former president Blaise Compaore in the 1990s, including during Kabore’s tenure as prime minister.
Dabire’s portfolios included health, secondary and higher education, and scientific research, in that order.
