Burkina Faso's President Sacks Defense Minister
Voice of America
OUAGADOUGOU, BURKINA FASO - Burkina Faso's President Roch Kabore has dismissed the country's defense minister in the wake of widespread protests Saturday against insecurity.
Cherif Sy had been defense minister since the country's conflict with domestic terror groups started in 2015. His replacement is the president himself, along with a minister delegate, Colonel Major Aimé Simpore, who has been appointed to assist. At the beginning of June, Burkina Faso saw its worst terrorist attack on civilians since the conflict with armed groups linked to al-Qaida and Islamic State started. At least 138 people were killed in the village of Solhan. The attack triggered a wave of protests against insecurity that swept the country last weekend. Sy's departure was one of the protesters' major demands.A person votes at a polling station during a special voting day, ahead of South Africa's general elections to elect a new National Assembly, in Cape Town, South Africa, May 27, 2024. Elderly special voter Thelma Thembeka Dingaan, 65, checks her ballot papers at her home in the Yeoville neighborhood of Johannesburg, South Africa, on May 27, 2024.
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