Burkina Faso - Military Personnel

The military of Burkina Faso consisted of an Army of about 6000 men in voluntary service and a conscripted People's Militia of about 45,000 men and women [as of 2013]. The armed forces including the Gendarmerie are about 10,000 strong - nearly 0.1 percent of the population. The army was said to be well funded and motivated by African standards, though "under-manned" for its force structure [that is to say, over-officered].

Burkina Faso has no military conscription. However, there is a form of civilian conscription. In September 1990 military training for conscripts was abolished and replaced by 'civil and patriotic' training, which lasts for one and a half month, followed by 10 months work in the production sector. Previously, conscription consisted of a one-year compulsory military service.

It is not known who is liable for the compulsory civilian service and it is unclear whether the 'civil and patriotic' training still includes some form of military training. In June 2015, Burkina Faso adopted a new law on the status of personnel of the national armed forces. This law determines the conditions for the advancement, in the Burkinabe armed forces, of the status of the female personnel of the armed forces, and especially the political rights of the military. On this point, the law stipulates that, in order to get into politics, everyone must first resign from the ranks of the army.

With this new law on the general status of the personnel of the national armed forces of Burkina Faso, any soldier wishing to start a political career must, beforehand, resign. This is a major breakthrough, according to MP Boubacar Bouda: "In the old provision, to make a career in political circles, military personnel were allowed to take an availability. This time, we tried to find a solution to all this by asking military personnel who want to make a career in politics to take the resignation outright."

For the deputy Mamadou Kabré, this law comes to put an end to the controversy on the candidature of the personnel of the armed forces to the future elections. Some civil society organizations denounced the provisions of the old law.

According to Colonel David Kabré, Minister of Sports and Recreation, who represented the government during its adoption, this law aims simply to improve the conditions of personnel management of the Burkinabe armed forces: " One can no longer make politics and Then return to the army and wear the stripes to be military. From now on, it's over. We are pleased that the legislation has been passed. It was, of course, the subject of discussions at the level of the Department of Defense".

According to Minister David Kabré, this legislation is not retroactive. Already some officers have announced their intention to run for the next presidential election.

The Ecole Militaire Technique de Ouagadougou (EMTO), a Franco-Burkina Faso project supported by the Directorate of Security and Defense Cooperation, is a National School with Regional Vocations (ENVR) whose purpose is to train officers and non-commissioned officers Specialists in maintenance (communications equipment, automotive, armament) and African logistics officers. Each year, EMTO trains more than 200 trainees from about 20 countries in West Africa, Central Africa and the East African coast. The duration of the internships varies between 2 weeks and 6 months depending on the schooling followed.

Two French officers, technical military co-operatives, placed in the school, guarantee the quality of the training provided with the EMTO executives. They are also responsible for managing funds received from the DCSD for the day-to-day operation of the school or the timely realization of investments. EMTO was established in January 2000 in Camp Guillaume Ouédraogo, located at the northern end of the Place de la Nation.