Elections in Burkina Faso are "not a priority" compared to "security", the country's military leader Captain Ibrahim Traore said on state TV on Friday, a day to the first anniversary of his coming to power in a coup.
Traore, who had promised a return to democracy with presidential elections by July 2024, also announced planned changes to the constitution to make it more representative of the "masses".
"It's not a priority, I'll tell you that clearly, it's security that's the priority" in a country plagued by militant violence, he told reporters, referring to elections. Even so, the goal was still to organise a ballot, he said, without specifying a date.
"There won't be an election that is only concentrated in Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso and other nearby towns," he said, referring to two cities that have largely been spared frequent attacks. "It has to be that all Burkinabe people choose their president."
Anniversary rallies
Traore went on to say he was planning a "partial change" to the country's constitution, saying the present text reflected "the opinion of a handful of enlightened people", to the detriment of the "popular masses".
"The current texts don't allow us to be able to evolve peacefully," he said. At 34, Traore was the world's youngest leader when he was sworn in as interim president, vowing to win back territory and support a transition leading to elections in July 2024.
Several thousand people demonstrated on Friday in Ouagadougou and other cities in support of the military regime, calling for the adoption of a new constitution.
When Traore seized power he gave himself "two to three months" to improve security in Burkina Faso, but one year on, violence still blights the West African nation.
At the time, he cited the country's spiralling security situation as justification for the putsch.
'We are at war'
More than 17,000 people have died in attacks since 2015 -- more than 6,000 of them just this year, according to a count by NGO monitor the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED).
Still, the government claimed at the end of last month that more than 190,000 people had returned to their homes after it chased insurgents from the areas, and regime supporters welcome what they call strong decisions by Traore.
"We are at war," Traore said Friday, blaming "certain actors" for refusing to sell the army equipment. "Most of our equipment is Russian," he added, and there is "not much" French equipment.
Under Traore, relations with France broke down, with French forces that had been helping the Burkinabe army leaving the country at the junta's request in February.
Burkina has since moved closer to Russia and formed an alliance with neighbouring Mali and Niger, two countries also led by military regimes.
