Burkina junta leader: Security first before promised elections

The leader of Burkina Faso’s military junta on Friday said promised elections would only be held once the security situation permits, as hundreds of his supporters rallied in the capital on the first anniversary of the coup.
Supporters gathered at the Place de la Nation in Ouagadougou waving Burkinabe flags. Some held signs with pictures of the young interim president, Captain Ibrahim Traore.
Traore grabbed power on Sept. 30 last year, ousting the leader of another coup who had overthrown president Roch Kabore eight months earlier amid a worsening security crisis fuelled by armed groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State.
The coups were welcomed by many citizens fed up with the deadly violence and disillusioned by their government, but condemned by Western countries who see their influence waning as democracy retreats in West Africa’s Sahel region.