Burkina Faso’s outgoing Prime Minister Christophe Dabire (photo by AFP)

Burkina Faso’s Prime Minister Christophe Dabire has resigned amid a security crisis and protests calling for a government reshuffle.

President Roch Marc Christian Kabore accepted Dabire’s resignation and that of his cabinet on Wednesday. Members of the outgoing government will maintain their posts until the establishment of a new government, however.

The president last month stressed the need for a stronger cabinet on the eve of anti-government protests over violence by militant groups. A week later, he pledged to root out corruption from the country.

Public anger was first aroused when an attack by an al-Qaeda-affiliated group killed 53 military police officers and four civilians in mid-November.

Dabire first became prime minister in early 2019 and was reappointed in January 2021. He was previously Burkina Faso’s representative at the eight-nation West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA).

Burkina Faso, one of the world’s poorest countries, has been battling armed combatants with links to the al-Qaeda and Daesh terrorist groups since 2016.

According to United Nations data, Takfiri and inter-communal violence was to blame for 4,000 deaths last year in the Sahel region countries of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger. Terrorist groups have strengthened their foothold across the arid Sahel region, making large swathes of territory ungovernable and stoking local ethnic violence, especially in Mali and Burkina Faso.