Burkina Faso’s military authorities dismissed Prime Minister Apollinaire Joachim Kyélem de Tambèla and dissolved the national government, announcing the move in a decree that gave no explanation. Interim President Ibrahim Traoré said ministers would continue carrying out their duties until a replacement government was formed.
Kyélem de Tambèla had served as prime minister since October 2022, shortly after the coup that brought Traoré to power. He remained at the head of three successive governments through earlier reshuffles before the junta ended his tenure. The decree terminated his official functions but did not identify a successor or a timetable for appointing one.
The change came within a broader period of military rule across the Sahel. Burkina Faso experienced two coups in 2022. A military group first removed democratically elected president Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, and Traoré’s forces then overthrew Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba’s military government about eight months later, in September.
Both takeovers drew on public frustration over worsening insecurity. Armed groups linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group have carried out attacks across Burkina Faso, killing thousands and displacing more than two million people in recent years. Children accounted for about half of those displaced. Analysts estimated that roughly half the country’s territory remained outside state control, demonstrating that the military government had not resolved the security crisis it cited when taking power.
The transitional authorities had operated under a charter approved by a national assembly that included military officers as well as representatives of civil society and traditional and religious groups. Under regional pressure, the junta had earlier set a goal of holding an election in July 2024 to restore civilian rule. Instead, it extended the transition in May for another five years, equivalent to a full presidential term.
Burkina Faso also reoriented its foreign relationships under military rule. Along with neighbouring Mali and Niger, it broke with longstanding Western and regional partners, including former colonial power France. The three military-led states also moved to leave the Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, earlier in 2024.
Against that unsettled background, the removal of Kyélem de Tambèla changed the leadership of the administration without altering the junta at its head. With ministers retained only to maintain continuity and no reason offered for the dismissal, the decree left open how quickly a new cabinet would be appointed and whether it would change the government’s approach to insecurity, political transition or Burkina Faso’s increasingly independent regional alignment. The retained ministers provided administrative continuity, but the decree offered little clarity about future policy direction.
