Burkina Faso: Nearly 8 billion CFA francs collected by the Patriotic support’s Fund
The sum of 7,366,150,616 CFA francs ($US 12,2 million) has been collected by the Patriotic Support Fund established by the Transitional Government of Burkina Faso in January 2023 as part of the fight against terrorism, announced on Monday, the Minister in charge of Economy and Finance, Aboubacar Nacanabo.
Aboubacar Nacanabo, who was speaking at the opening of the inaugural session of the Patriotic Support Fund Orientation Council, explained that the resources of the Patriotic Support Fund are made up of voluntary contributions from individuals and legal entities, technical and financial partners, donations and bequests, as well as other authorized legal resources including employee contributions.
The sum of 1.1 billion CFA francs ($US 1,8 million)) was collected under taxes, 3.4 billion CFA francs (5.7 million dollars) from taxes on alcoholic beverages, nearly 400 million CFA francs (665,557 dollars) from tobacco taxes, and nearly 370 million CFA francs (615,640 dollars) from voluntary contributions; still according to the explanations of the Minister.
Let’s recall that it was in last January that the Burkinabe government created a Patriotic Support Fund estimated at 100 billion CFA francs (164 million dollars) in order to support and accompany the action of Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland, who stand to the army auxiliaries in the fight against terrorism.
The establishment of this fund should help to achieving the first two missions assigned to the Transition by the Charter signed on October 14th, 2022, « namely, to restore and strengthen security throughout the national territory and provide an urgent, effective and efficient response to the humanitarian crisis », according to Burkinabe authorities.
On Monday, in front of his colleagues, the Minister in charge of Security, Colonel Boukaré Zoungrana, emphasized the commitment of the transitional authorities to combat terrorism. « 2023 is a pivotal year, it’s a decisive year for terrorism (…) And I mean it, it’s 2023. We cannot allow ourselves the possibility of going to 2024 with this situation. It’s an existential step, » he declared.
Faced with terrorist attacks since 2015, the Burkinabe authorities have multiplied anti-terrorist operations in recent days through offensive actions against terrorist armed groups, thanks to new acquisitions of military equipment.
According to the Burkinabe army, several dozen « terrorists » belonging to the armed group « Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (IS-GS) » were neutralized in air strikes carried out by the military aviation on Sunday in the Sahel region of Burkina Faso.
Since March 30th , a state of emergency has been taken into force in eight over the thirteen regions of Burkina Faso in order to facilitate anti-terrorism operations.
Yannick H.
