Burkina Faso’s prime minister is fired amid growing violence

By SAM MEDNICK
Associated Press

JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — Burkina Faso’s prime minister has been fired amid escalating jihadi violence that’s killed thousands and displaced more than 1 million people. President Roch Marc Christian Kabore sacked his prime minister amid weeks of anti-government protests in which demonstrators have criticized the government’s inability to stem extremist attacks by al-Qaida and the Islamic State across the West African nation. Last month saw the deadliest violence against the country’s security forces in recent memory, with more than 50 gendarmes killed in the Sahel region. Communications Minister Ousseni Tamboura said that Prime Minister Christophe Joseph Marie Dabire was removed as a result of the president’s commitment to setting up a “tighter and more cohesive government.”