APA-Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) In his New Year’s greetings to the people of Burkina Faso, Captain Ibrahim Traoré outlined his major plans for 2024.
For the New Year, the President of the Transition announced the creation of a special rapid intervention brigade that will bring together elite units and elements of the special forces.
The armed forces continue to be equipped, with the arrival of “new heavy protection equipment and increased firepower.”
In his view, these resources will help to “amplify” the fight against armed groups and the return of displaced persons to their places of origin.
By 2023, 343,383 displaced people had been returned to their places of origin, according to Nandi Some, Minister for Humanitarian Action, in mid-December.
While the forecast cereal supply barely covers the consumption needs of 99 percent of the population, Captain Traoré has set himself the goal of “achieving food self-sufficiency” by 2024.
To achieve this, he is betting on two major programs launched in 2023, namely Operation Agro-Pastoral Offensive and the Presidential Initiative for Food Self-Sufficiency.
“In the field of industrialization and anything else that can bring a plus to all those valiant merchants who do their best to serve the various localities, many initiatives will be taken in this direction,” indicated the Head of State went on.
To enable the population to enjoy the fruits of the development actions undertaken, he promised to tackle corruption. “By 2024, we intend to launch the anti-corruption machine,” he insisted.
He called on Burkinabe to make the Presidential Initiative for Community Development their own, by getting more involved in urban and rural sanitation initiatives, at a time when a dengue-related health crisis has claimed more than 700 lives.
“The fight we are waging today is also a fight for culture,” Captain Traore said. Faced with the loss of culture, he emphasized the officialization of national languages and the creation of the National Council of Communities.
On the diplomatic front, Ibrahim Traore spoke of the break with France, without naming it, referring to the breaking of “the first chains of slavery, imperialism and neo-colonialism.”
“We remain convinced of our trajectory and of the line we have adopted. There is no better route than the one we have taken for our freedom, for our sovereignty and for Burkina to prosper,” the captain concluded.
DS/ac/fss/abj/APA