ABIDJAN: Burkina Faso’s ruling military leader on Friday dismissed the country’s prime minister and dissolved the government, according to a presidential decree transmitted to AFP.
The sacked premier had served at the head of three successive governments, surviving each reshuffle.
No reason was given for the dismissal of Apollinaire Joachim Kyelem de Tambela, who was named as premier in October 2022 after the coup that brought Captain Ibrahim Traore to power.
“The prime minister’s official functions are terminated,” said the decree, adding that members of the dissolved government would “carry out ongoing business until the formation of a new government.”
The west African country was plunged into instability by a January 2022 coup in which Lt. Col. Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba seized power.
Little more than eight months later, Damiba himself was overthrown by Traore, 36, who now heads the junta regime.
Damiba, who ousted elected president Roch Marc Christian Kabore, is currently in exile in neighboring Togo.
The junta has made the return of national sovereignty one of its priorities and regularly hits out against Western powers.
Burkina Faso has allied with fellow Sahel nations Mali and Niger, which are also led by military juntas following a string of coups since 2020.
The three nations joined together last September under the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), after severing ties with former colonial ruler France and pivoting toward Russia.
Burkina Faso was a French colony for the first half of the 20th century, and relations have soured with Paris following the 2022 coup.
Foreign Minister Karamoko Jean-Marie Traore last month said Burkina Faso’s cooperation with Russia “better suited” his country than its historic ties with France.
Along with Mali and Niger, Burkina Faso announced in January they were turning their backs on the Economic Community of West African States – ECOWAS – an organization they accused of being manipulated by Paris.
The three neighbors are all battling jihadist violence that erupted in northern Mali in 2012 and spread to Niger and Burkina Faso in 2015.
In Burkina Faso, about two million people have been forced to flee their homes by the conflict, which has killed more than 26,000 people since 2015, including soldiers and civilians, according to monitoring group ACLED.
Moscow has sent military instructors there – as well as to several other African countries – to help in the fight against Islamist violence.
Burkina Faso junta chief dissolves government
https://arab.news/5fn5y
Burkina Faso junta chief dissolves government
- Apollinaire Joachim Kyelem de Tambela had served at the head of three successive governments, surviving each reshuffle
- No reason was given for his dismissal, who was named as premier in October 2022 after the coup
Energy independence, transition take center stage at India’s flagship industry forum
- Modi announces investment opportunities of $500 billion in India’s energy ecosystem
- India, Canada launch ministerial energy dialogue during India Energy Week 2026
NEW DELHI: Thousands of top industry executives, innovators and policymakers are gathered in Goa for India Energy Week 2026, where they are discussing global energy transition technologies, including hydrogen and future fuels.
Organized under the patronage of India’s Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, the event opened on Tuesday and will run through Jan. 30, featuring 10 country pavilions and exhibitions by more than 700 local and international industry players.
The organizers expect 75,000 people to visit the venue at the ONGC Advanced Training Institute in Goa — a petroleum industry training campus operated by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, India’s largest state‑owned oil and gas company.
In his opening remarks, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced investment opportunities of up to $500 billion in oil and gas exploration, refining, and energy infrastructure.
“We are doing reforms to empower domestic hydrocarbons and are creating a transparent and investor-friendly environment for global collaboration. India is now working on the mission of energy independence, moving beyond energy security,” he said.
“We are striving to take investment in our oil and gas sector to $100 billion by the end of this decade.”
The minister of petroleum and natural gas, Hardeep Singh Puri, told participants that India’s share of global energy demand is estimated to be 10 percent by 2050 — about 30 percent more than at present — and it will be backed by conventional and renewable energy sources.
“While renewable and alternative energy sources are expanding at pace, conventional energy will remain essential to meet growing demand. Energy transition, energy security, and system resilience must advance together, and energy addition has emerged as a practical pathway to balance these priorities,” he said.
“India is diversifying its energy journey on a sustainable path. With strong progress across green hydrogen, compressed biogas, CNG (compressed natural gas), and LNG (liquefied natural gas), India continues to address the energy trilemma of availability, affordability and sustainability.”
India depends mainly on Russia, Iraq and Saudi Arabia for crude, and Qatar for LNG.
A new source for both may become Canada, whose Energy Minister Timothy Hodgson launched with Puri the India-Canada Ministerial Energy Dialogue on the sidelines of the Goa event on Tuesday.
Hodgson told India Energy Week participants that Canada could supply crude oil and LNG to India, as well as uranium — which India needs to achieve its target of 100 GW nuclear capacity by 2047.
“Canada used to provide 98 percent of its energy to one customer,” Hodgson said, referring to the US. “We are committed to diversifying our supply. We see the opportunity to work with India.”
