Burkina Faso announced this week the launch of a campaign to recruit 50,000 civilian defense volunteers to assist the army in combating jihadists.
Since 2015, the country, one of the poorest in the world, has been fighting a deadly jihadist insurgency.
Burkina Faso has experienced two coups since the beginning of the year, with each new leader accusing the previous of failing to end the violence.
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Captain Ibrahim Traore, who took power late last month, appointed a new transition government on Tuesday evening.
Colonel Boukare Zoungrana, shortly before being appointed minister of territorial administration, announced that more civilians would be recruited to combat armed groups.
“Recruitment has been launched for 35,000 volunteers for the defence of the nation” from different districts, he said.
Their mission “will be to protect the population and belongings of their districts alongside the security forces,” he added.
The authorities had already announced it would build a force of 15,000 other volunteers “who could be deployed across the whole of the national territory.”
The so-called “volunteers for the defense of the nation” have legally existed since 2020.
Recruits usually receive training for a fortnight before being handed weapons and means of communication.
Many have been killed in jihadist attacks, especially in the north and east of the country.
Beyond the civilian volunteers, the military is also looking to hire 3,000 more soldiers to boost its ranks.
Jihadists control around 40 percent of Burkino Faso’s territory.
In the latest assault on Monday, at least 10 Burkina Faso soldiers were killed in the northern city of Djibo.
