APA-Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) Junta head Ibrahim Traore had repeatedly threatened to sanction bad behaviour from within the ranks of the Burkinabe military.
Four soldiers have been disbarred from the army, Agence d’information du Burkina (AIB) reported on Tuesday 13 February 2024, citing orders signed on 09 February by the Minister of Defence, Brigadier General Kassoum Coulibaly.
Soldiers 2nd class Ousseni Tassembedo and Mevis Armel Bamogo and soldier 1st class Roger Ouedraogo are accused of “particularly serious offences involving arms trafficking, swindling, theft and concealment
of equipment belonging to others and to the army.”
These four soldiers now bring to six the number of soldiers disbarred since the beginning of the year, according to figures available to AIB.
On 31 January this year, Chief Warrant Officer Savadogo Dalibou was disbarred for fraudulently taking 2,940,000 CFA francs intended for the operational bonuses of the army’s civilian auxiliaries known as Volunteers for the Defence of the Fatherland (VDP) in the commune of Samourouguan, in the west of the country.
Captain Martial Nayire was also disbarred from the army for “misconduct deemed particularly serious,” according to a presidential decree dated 5 January 2024. He was commander of the Solle military detachment in Soum province.
On 8 January 2024, the Head of State, Captain Ibrahim Traore, announced that there would be zero tolerance for any failings that jeopardise the recapture of territory from the terrorists.
DS/ac/fss/abj/APA