Iran Press/ Africa: Ibrahim Traore officially became Burkina Faso’s transitional president Friday, two weeks after he seized power in the country’s second coup this year, but he will be ineligible to run for the office when elections are held.
A national assembly that included army officers, civil society organizations, and traditional and religious leaders approved a new charter for the West African country Friday.
Some 300 delegates from political parties, social and religious groups, security forces, unions as well as people displaced by jihadist violence had gathered Friday to discuss the country's future at a national forum in the capital Ouagadougou.
It adopted article five of a "transition charter" which stipulates that the head of the party of the ruling junta assumes the positions of transition president, head of state and supreme chief of the national armed forces, the two sources said.
Traore has been head of the Patriotic Movement for Preservation and Restoration (MPSR) -- as the junta chose to call itself -- since the September 30 coup.
On Friday, thousands of people crowded outside where the assembly was taking place to show their support for Traore, a 34-year-old army captain who was relatively unknown before coming to power. 219
