With our correspondent in Ouagadougou, Yaya Boudani

In the document dated March 10 and signed by Lieutenant-Colonel Paul Henri Damiba, president of Faso, it is stated that this mobilization is requested for the "needs of the nation", without further detail.

This mobilization concerns non-commissioned officers and enlisted personnel retired during the years 2019, 2020, and 2021. According to an officer, this concerns several hundred people, the retirement age in the targeted categories being between 50 and 57 years old.

Sedentary posts

"We cannot say how many people will enlist for now and their quality", he says before adding that those who are retired were at "the end of their potential". They could replace younger personnel in barracks, in offices or in sedentary posts that do not require particular physical effort, our source indicates.

This recruitment had been proposed since 2019, but certain concerns about effectiveness, support, and the status of these reservists in case of desertion had prompted authorities to delay its implementation, according to a source within the military hierarchy.

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