APA – Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso)
The watchdog committees set up are civil society organisations that aim to support the government in Burkina Faso in its transition programme.
The transitional government has adopted a draft bill to establish Watchdog and Development Committees (COVEDs), according to the minutes of the Council of Ministers meeting of Wednesday, February 15, 2023.
“The COVEDs will serve as a relay to ensure the support of efforts to find solutions to security crises, development and social cohesion through the active participation of its members,” the government says.
The executive explains that these are civil, “apolitical” organisations, responsible for promoting citizen action, on a voluntary basis.
These committees also play a role of community policing, allowing “to contain at the base all acts and behaviours harmful to the idea of living together and social cohesion and to fight effectively against terrorism.”
“This bill will provide our country with patriotic structures to promote grassroots development, strengthen local solidarity, and monitor and defend the interests of the community,” the transitional authorities said.
In December 2022 and January 2023, Captain Ibrahim Traore invited civil society organisations to form vigilante groups in the cities and countryside.
“We must remain vigilant. Get organised already. Whether in the neighbourhoods or villages, young people must be able to organise to remain permanent intelligence elements for the fighting forces,” he said on January 3, 2023 in Bobo-Dioulasso, before young people who had taken up his cause.
The meeting of ministers agreed to forward the bill to the Transitional Legislative Assembly.
