VZCZCXRO2795
RR RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHOU #0318/01 1111628
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 201628Z APR 08
FM AMEMBASSY OUAGADOUGOU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3581
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/CDR USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 OUAGADOUGOU 000318 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR AF/W EPLUMB, JHUTCHISON 
ABIDJAN FOR DATT 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV MARR ELAB UV
SUBJECT:  BURKINA FASO: MILITARY RETIREES SURPRISE GOVERNMENT WITH 
AGGRESSIVE DEMANDS FOR IMPROVED BENEFITS; MOVEMENT OF CAMPS OUTSIDE 
OF MAIN CITIES 
 
REFTELS: A) 06 OUAGADOUGOU 1159; 
          B) 07 OUAGADOUGOU 0027; 
         C) 07 OUAGADOUGOU 0807 
¶1. (SBU) Summary.  Beginning in October 2007, a group of retired and 
soon-to-be retired Burkinabe soldiers participated in unauthorized 
demonstrations to argue for increased benefits and retirement ages. 
The Government offered to reemploy retired military as civil 
servants and provide a fund for individual business ventures, but 
refused to increase retirement ages.  The Government arrested 
several demonstration leaders, and later released them.  As of early 
February, almost half of eligible military retirees had signed up 
for the new benefits, but a dwindling number of hardliners held 
another organizational meeting on April 13. 
¶2. (SBU) Another source of discontent, this time for active 
soldiers, is a Government plan to construct new military camps in 
towns at a considerable distance from Ouagadougou and 
Bobo-Dioulasso.  Some military personnel are upset that this move 
will separate them from their families.  The plan is in part 
designed to reduce the possibility of coup attempts against the 
Government, and of violent clashes between the armed forces and 
paramilitary (gendarmes and national police), such as broke out in 
December 2006 between army and police elements in Ouagadougou.  End 
Summary. 
December 2006: Army-Police Shootouts Lead to Creation 
of Commission on Recruitment, Training, and Benefits 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) In the immediate aftermath of December 2006 clashes between 
police and military in Ouagadougou that left several dead (refs A, 
B), a commission composed of high-ranking officers and military 
representatives was named to identify and resolve problems facing 
the armed forces.  During these discussions, retired and soon-to-be 
retired soldiers presented a list of requests, which the commission 
left unaddressed until a second meeting held in mid-October 2007.  A 
central complaint of these soldiers was that the current retirement 
age was too low to support families with school-aged children.  Also 
important, many soldiers including officers, once retired from the 
military, lacked the training necessary to find skilled jobs. 
 
October 2007: Retired Soldiers Surround 
Armed Forces Headquarters to Press Demands 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶4. (SBU) On October 7 and 9, 2007 soldiers led two demonstrations in 
Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso to publicly announce their grievances 
in advance of the second commission meeting scheduled for 
mid-October.  Although the demonstration in Ouagadougou did not turn 
violent, it was briefly tense, with a ring of mainly retired 
soldiers, some in uniform, surrounding the armed forces 
headquarters, and a second cordon of police surrounding the soldiers 
(ref C).  The demonstrators called on the Government to: 
 
- give pension credit for 2 years of service that were previously 
ineligible for pensions; 
- extend the retirement age by 4 years for each service (current 
ages are 46 years for privates, 48 years for sergeants and staff 
sergeants, 48-54 for non-commissioned officers, and 54-60 for the 
senior officers); 
- grant retirement allowances to the officers who retired in 2006; 
and, 
- grant "reinsertion" (into civilian life) payments to those who 
retired in 2006, instead of beginning with those who retired in 
¶2007. 
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Government Response to Soldiers' Demands - President Compaore's 
Brother Mediates, Some Concessions Made 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
¶5. (SBU) In the light of these public demands by the retired 
soldiers, which embarrassed and angered some active-duty senior 
officers, the Government responded by opening negotiations. 
Demonstrating the seriousness with which the Government took the 
situation, Francois Compaore, the younger brother of President 
Blaise Compaore, mediated between military leaders and Government 
representatives to postpone a second round of demonstrations until 
at least mid-November. 
¶6. (SBU) The GOBF then offered retired officers employment in civil 
service and in territorial community administrations.  According to 
the Minister of Defense, around 3,000 former soldiers were to be 
recruited for civil service positions across the country.  The 
government also agreed to establish a reinsertion fund for those 
retired officers willing to start income-generating projects in 
agriculture or livestock raising. 
 
OUAGADOUGO 00000318  002 OF 003 
 
 
Retirees Reject Offer by Government, 
Which Hardens Its Position, Arrests Leaders 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) These proposals were initially rejected by many retirees 
and soon-to-be retires, and the latter insisted on demands to 
postpone their retirement for an additional 4 years.  The 
government, for its part, went ahead and started implementing its 
proposals, including registering participants. 
 
¶8. (SBU) In January, in the face of the refusal of some 
demonstrators to abandon their demands, the Government took a harder 
line.  It told the press that it considered the former soldiers' 
demands "legally groundless," and moved to criminalize future 
protests involving military.  (The Government also arrested and 
later released several of the demonstration leaders, including 
finally releasing the top leader, Clement Ouedraogo, on April 4.) 
 
¶9. (SBU) Also in January, a group of retired soldiers held a general 
assembly in Ouagadougou where they denounced: Government attempts at 
intimidation, the mediation of conflicts by the Mogho Naba (a local 
traditional authority), and the refusal of authorities to grant them 
access to the retirees' center to conduct their meetings.  They 
vowed to continue to fight the Government and plan general assembly 
meetings.  Although their ranks had thinned, they did hold another 
meeting on April 13. 
 
¶10. (SBU) As of early February, 44% or 1,183 out of 2,700 potential 
beneficiaries had registered for the Government's new program. 
Soldiers interested in the reinsertion fund to develop businesses 
have begun receiving payments, according to an Embassy contact.  In 
an April 4 meeting with officials from the Ministries of Defense and 
Transportation, retired officers complained that they were being 
offered jobs that they were unqualified for, or that were too far 
from their homes.  Government officials promised to continue working 
on the issue. 
 
Movement of Military Camps Outside of Major Cities: 
Another Potential Source of Discontent in Armed Forces 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
 
¶11. (SBU) In the aftermath of the December 2006 shootouts between 
army and police elements, the Government constituted a commission 
led by the gendarmerie (which had not taken part in the incidents) 
to look at ways to reduce the possibility of similar incidents, the 
head of the National Gendarmerie told us.  One action taken soon 
afterwards was to inventory weapons in armories, and attempt to make 
them more secure from theft or attack. (Note: This commission may be 
the same one examining military retiree benefits. End note.) 
 
¶12. (SBU) Another recommendation made by the commission was to move 
military camps further away from the two major cities of Ouagadougou 
and Bobo-Dioulasso.  At present, there are plans to build facilities 
in Fada N'Gourma, Tenkodogo, and Kaya, with construction to start 
later this year.  This move was intended to allow for growth, cut 
down on tension between military and paramilitary (gendarmes and 
police) and between military and civilians, and decrease the problem 
of military idleness (and resulting delinquent behavior affecting 
the surrounding population). 
 
¶13. (SBU) Many soldiers already want to contest the plan to move the 
camps, which was obliquely referenced by Prime Minister Tertius 
Zongo in his March 27 "State of the Union" address before the 
National Assembly.  Many soldiers prefer their current camps in or 
just outside of Ouagadougou because they can live with their 
families.  Since families usually do not move when soldiers are 
transferred to new locations, the prospect of deployment to newly 
constructed camps has created unhappiness in the ranks, sources have 
told us. 
 
¶14. (SBU) Comment: This initiative is also partly designed to reduce 
the possibility of a coup attempt or instability that might inspire 
one.  The movement of camps to locations removed from Burkina Faso's 
two major cities could, for example, make more difficult future 
demonstrations like those that occurred in October to the extent 
that most active duty soldiers would be well outside of the capital. 
 This move would also make Compaore's "praetorian" Presidential 
Guard less vulnerable to armed forces regulars. 
 
JACKSON 
 
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OUAGADOUGO 00000318  003 OF 003 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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