It's now official: Capt. #Traoré is transition president in #BurkinaFaso, a direct result of the 'assises', an assembly of some 300 delegates, adopting tonight a new transition charter stating the head of ruling MPSR junta is also transition president. Why is this significant?🧵 
2/ First, while #Traoré's nomination was in recent days a foregone conclusion, it wasn't always so: since day 1 of the #BurkinaFaso coup, he had stressed the transition leader could be a civilian, and that he had no interest himself in ruling. So what has changed in the meantime?
3/ One interpretation is that it was always the plan. Another, that #Traoré realised he could easily be sidelined if he did not make himself president. Following the rebooted junta's 1st speech on state TV on 30 Sept, #Traoré faced pushback in streets of #Ouagadougou from ...
4/ ... #Damiba loyalists over following 2 days & later allegedly faced pressures from the military's hierarchy, which favoured another transition leader. In parallel, #Traoré managed to rally the support of large crowds ready to take to the streets and demonstrate in his favour
5/ The following he has amassed now temporarily puts him in a position of power. Only yesterday, as 'assises' delegates reviewed the transition charter draft, thousands gathered outside their meeting place saying they would accept no one other than #Traoré as transition president
6/ This remains a potentially risky move for #Traoré: first, he has accused #Damiba, whom he toppled, of caring too much about politics but he is now himself entering politics; second, he is now accountable for any failures to deliver on the promises he has made
7/ Already yesterday, a coordinator with Balai Citoyen (a #BurkinaFaso civil society group that played a key role in toppling former President Compaoré) interviewed by @sammednick warned: "if Traoré doesn’t [deliver results], he may be ousted like Damiba" apnews.com/article/russia…
8/ A second point of interest is that #Traoré's appointment as transition president marks a departure from the established trend in who holds power in #BurkinaFaso. Historically, executive power is held by ethnic Mossi Christians. Traoré, an ethnic Samo Muslim, is neither
9/ This is significant because while they make up majority of the population, #BurkinaFaso Muslims have historically been underrepresented in political & administrative elites. This 2016 report by @CrisisGroup provides useful historical recap of how & why: crisisgroup.org/africa/west-af…
10/ While #Traoré won't be the first 'exception to the rule' since #BurkinaFaso independence, it begs the question of which stance the Mossi kingdoms (and in particular the influential Mogho Naba) & the Catholic Church will take during the transition, and the following elections
11/ Last week already we saw campaigns on social media seeking to preempt any pressures, with users sharing messages stating "my country is #BurkinaFaso, my ethnic group is Burkina Faso, my religion is Burkina Faso"
12/ Going forward, #Traoré's decision to assume the transition's presidency despite teasing he would not also begs the question of what else may be subject to reconsideration before the end of the transition, and notably its length and #Traoré's ineligibility in 2024
13/ But for that question to be relevant, #Traoré first has to get to 2024, and at present nothing is less certain. Notably, like #Damiba before him, he has pledged to restore security, but there are no magical solutions and he has yet to detail how he intends to perform better
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
