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The 58-year-old geophysicist will take office in the midst of a major disagreement over the country’s deadly violence.
Roch Marc Christian Kabore, President of Burkina Faso, has appointed Lassina Zerbo as the country’s new prime minister, according to a decree.
Zerbo, a 58-year-old geophysicist and former head of a top nuclear watchdog, will take on the role of growing dissatisfaction with the growing security crisis that has gripped Burkina Faso over the years.
“President … decrees: Lassina Zerbo has been appointed prime minister,” said government spokesman Stephane Wenceslas Sanou, who read the decree on television.
A new cabinet is expected in the coming days.
Zerbo served as executive secretary of the Vienna Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBTO) until August 2013.
It is relatively unknown to most Burkinabers, but has gained some recognition abroad for its efforts to ban nuclear testing.
Under pressure to make changes, Kabore shot Prime Minister Christophe Dabire on Wednesday, in the wake of the latest shake-up of the leadership that has introduced high-ranking military personnel.
Opposition and civil society groups have repeatedly expressed their dissatisfaction with the government’s handling of the security crisis, calling on Kabori to step down.
In late November, 10 people were injured, including a child and two journalists, when police used tear gas to disperse hundreds of protesters in the capital Ouagadougou.
Increased violence
Burkina Faso is in the midst of a conflict that has raged over large parts of the dry region of the Sahel, killing thousands of people, forcing millions more out of their homes and leaving a huge humanitarian crisis.
Despite efforts by regional armies and former French colonial authorities, attacks by ISIL (ISIS) and al-Qaeda-linked armed groups continue unabated, leaving local communities vulnerable.
Burkina Faso was at the height of the violence last month, with dozens of people, mostly gendarmes. hil in the north of the country.
Two weeks before the attack, police warned the residence that there was a shortage of supplies and that they had to catch animals for food.
They spent several days waiting for a rescue force when they were attacked by hundreds of fighters, on trucks and motorcycles, according to accounts of the fight.
Before the new prime minister was appointed on Friday night, Kabor called on all Burkinabés to come together to fight “terrorism”.
“I call on all the daughters and sons of our nation to support the war effort, each according to his or her abilities,” he said, without giving further details.
On Thursday night, the army in Burkina Faso and nearby Niger reported that about 100 “terrorists” had been killed in a joint military operation against armed groups on the border between November 25 and December 9.
Two bases were also dismantled, one on both sides of the border, according to a joint statement.
Kabore was first elected in 2015, his predecessor Blaise Compaore, who took power in 1987, a year after he was ousted by mass protests for wanting to change his constitution in order to remain in office.
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