Burkina Faso overhauls army command amid jihadist attacks

Burkinabe army chief of staff Oumarou Sadou (L) posthumously awards eight soldiers killed in twin attacks in Ouagadougou during a burial ceremony on March 7, 2018. PHOTO | AHMED OUOBA | AFP

OUAGADOUGOU,

Burkina Faso is overhauling its army command in the face of a wave of jihadist violence, according to presidential decrees seen by AFP on Friday.

Eight decrees signed by President Roch Marc Christian Kabore include measures to name a new army chief of staff and new heads of the military's three regional commands.

Jihadists have killed hundreds of civilians and inflicted crippling economic damage on Burkina Faso and neighbouring states in the Sahel desert region.

In the latest incident, five security personnel were killed Tuesday in what the army called a "terrorist" attack in the north.

The west African country had already named a new combined forces chief of staff and new defence and security ministers last month.