Transcription
Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening to all Africans across the continent and throughout the global diaspora. My name is Akosua Prempe and I am broadcasting from the United States of Africa.
Today's special report brings you a powerful and rare moment in African leadership. An indepth conversation between Bokina Faso's president of the transition, Captain Ibrahim Chore, and child journalists. This historic interview goes beyond politics. It speaks directly to the future of Africa, our children.
In this conversation, President Trare reflects on his childhood, the values that shaped him, and his vision for protecting children's rights, restoring education in conflictaffected areas, and building a society grounded in integrity, discipline, solidarity, and patriotism. He addresses critical issues such as insecurity, free education, food self-sufficiency, child welfare, leadership development, and the responsibility of every generation to safeguard Africa's future.
This is not just a message for Bikina Faso. It is a message for all of Africa. It challenges us to rethink how we educate our children, how we protect them, and how we pass on values that strengthen unity, dignity, and self-reliance across the continent.
Before the video begins, I encourage you to subscribe, like, comment, and share this broadcast. Your engagement helps us connect Africans everywhere and strengthens our collective voice toward a more united and self-determined Africa.
Now, as you watch this important message, I invite you to reflect deeply. Africa's future is being shaped today by the choices we make, the values we teach, and the unity we build together.
Good evening everyone, and thank you for joining us from the Kuba Palace in Oagadugu. I am Lalia Maria Koulibali, a journalist and presenter at Denny Voice and I am very happy to welcome you to this special program with an equally special person, the president of the transition, head of state, Captain Ibrahim Trareore himself. Good evening, Mr. President.
>> Good evening, >> your excellency, Mr. President. This interview is a first in our country and we thank you for your availability to speak to the children and with the children. I am not alone in conducting this interview. I will let everyone introduce themselves.
>> Hello, Mr. President. >> Hello. >> My name is Warren Ashley Nikima, a journalist and reporter for Defi Jr. >> Hello. >> I am currently a school correspondent and also a journalist presenter at Denny Voice. >> Good evening, Mr. President. My name is Yago Lea Rosine, a journalist at Dei Jr. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, dear colleagues.
Your excellency, Mr. president of the transition. How does it feel to be interviewed by child journalists?
>> All right. Hello everyone and thank you for being here. I must say that I am moved. First of all, it's also the first time that I have met child journalists with such unparalleled public speaking skills. Congratulations to you. It gives me great pleasure and I think this will be a moment of exchange between us and that you will be able to learn many things from it just as I too will learn many things from you.
>> Thank you Mr. President. We are also happy to have this moment with you. Could you tell us a little about your childhood and your professional career before becoming president of our country?
I was born in a village called Ker which is located in the Buku Muhun region where I spent part of my childhood but mostly a large part of it in Bondokui which is about 15 km from Ker. My childhood, I didn't necessarily grow up in a financially welloff family. And there are many things that one must understand as a child, especially when growing up. What is most important to remember? And this is an opportunity for me to thank parents. At your age, it's not obvious, but when I was in your shoes, uh what I remember most from my father was at the end of every month when I would see him with his slate calculating At the end of every month he would calculate and when he retired it was every 3 months he would calculate. But later when I grew up I understood what he was calculating. It's difficult when you have a salary and must figure out how to feed, clothe, care for and send your children to school. It's difficult when you have a salary and you have to figure out how to feed the children, how to send them to school, how to care for them, how to clothe them. So those were the kinds of calculations he was making. So this is to tell you that parents worry a lot about us. They fight for us and you cannot imagine how much many of you when you grow up one day you will understand. For us we had to grow up to be able to pay tribute to our parents today.
There is also something I learned from my father, a phrase he would always tell us at home. Execution before complaint because he was also in the military before later becoming a nurse. We obeyed him immediately and did exactly what he asked us to do. And even if we did not want to do it, you had to execute the order first and later you could make your point understood.
There are a certain number of values that our parents instilled in us. First, concerning integrity, honor, and dignity. These are important qualities and values we learned with them, and they truly forged us and perhaps even allowed us to become who we are today. As I said, my parents were not necessarily financially comfortable, but that is no reason to go begging. It is no reason to whine or to go fly or steal. It was forbidden. Strictly forbidden. So there are a certain number of values that even though you may not be well off, you must embody.
Solidarity, for example. We were always taught to share with others. And I think there were times when we perhaps we were not on the same page. We were children. We did not understand why our mother you know that in the village other people's children can come and spend a year two years with you to study or what have you those who leave the smaller villages and come to the city. So when she would give us two cakes perhaps she would give three cakes to the other child and for us well as children that made us a little jealous. Why don't you give us the same amount? Why even take better care of someone else's child than your own children? She would always tell us that you will understand when you are older, the day you are perhaps no longer by our side. When you are grown, you understand. And we also learned to share with others. That is what we were forged in.
And me in particular, I did a lot of household chores, what one might call girls chores. I would help my mother wash her dishes, sell her donuts, and everything. People may have made fun of me, my classmates at school, but for me it was a way to support her because it is not easy to see her get up at 5 in the morning, you know, every day to make her donuts before going to school. During recess, I was the first one out. I would run to her spot and help her sell her donuts. My classmates could make fun of me and all, but I helped her however I could. So, that's kind of what marked my early childhood.
I found myself free at 14 years old. And when I say free, I truly mean that I found myself all alone in Bobo, completely free to do whatever I wanted. But you're not a child just because of your age. It's really all in your head. And from that moment on, I understood that I had to take my life seriously because when I say free, at 14, you're free to do whatever you want. You have the choice to be lazy, to stop working, to stop going to school, but also the choice to keep going, to persevere. Because since primary school, you might be told that I was always first in my class, but that wasn't for nothing. Because my father, he didn't play around. He took all his time to teach us at home. And on the weekends, if he gave you a math problem or some operations or a dictation and you didn't get it right, you didn't get to eat breakfast. So, that's a little bit of how things were, but it forged us and it made us the men we are today. And we hope to be able to live up to that and to pass that on to you, the children here. And I think that every parent should give the best of themselves. And you too should be grateful and recognize the work that parents do to care for us to well take care of you. So that's a summary I would say of my early childhood, how it went and what we experienced.
Um what about your professional career?
I must say that there's one thing today I am the head of state but I was how should I put it I went through primary school secondary school and university just like everyone else but the love for being a soldier has always been inside me as I said the old man was a soldier before he became a nurse ever since I was a child his combat boots his heavy helmets that were at home I would wear them so I know that he knew I had a love for the profession but my mother never wanted to have a child in the military And in fourth grade I took the excellence competition. And in fifth grade my teacher wanted me at all costs to take the entrance exam for the pit. But my mother was fiercely opposed. She had surely seen my father's suffering as a soldier. So she didn't want any of her children to be in the military. She refused. I kept on working hard. I have a scientific inclination which is why I followed a scientific track all the way to university where I studied geology. after my balorate I wanted to join the army again but she refused but when she refused me something I couldn't force the issue because if you force it it's not right um so I continued during my master's year at university I asked her again I told her I want it's the army I want I was doing well in geology I could have done whatever I wanted there you go I had many scholarship opportunities because I wasn't at the bottom of my class, you know. There you go. But it was during my master's year that she finally gave me permission and I took the academyy's test. I went for my training and well, I became an army officer. I was convinced if she gave me her blessing, if she told me to do it this time, then I was convinced and I knew what I was doing.
This is to tell you that as I was saying, at 14, you find yourself all alone in a big city. It's not easy. I was at the Lisa Mikster Dakarville for example for secondary school. But I was living in Safaralo which is about 7 kilometers away. But I'm telling you I I walked for a long a good while. Morning and evening I would walk there and back until maybe a friend of an older brother lent me his bicycle. But I believed in what I wanted. It was how can I put it for us? It's a conviction. It's what our father taught us since childhood. As I told you, he guided us and we always wanted to be better. And so we never gave up. The goal was to always be better at school. And that meant nothing could lead us astray. And with the education we received, even if we didn't eat, that's no reason to get discouraged. Yes. Because those three years of secondary school weren't that simple. It was a bit difficult. one meal a day very often. But that's okay. I cooked for myself. I did everything myself. Um, but I had to stay focused on the objective. What kept me going was that at the end of the term, you know, I had to get a certain grade and that was it. So that's what guided us, if I may say.
So does that satisfy you or should I go into more detail on certain points that you >> No, thank you. That's enough. >> All right. Um, I'll pass the floor to my colleague for the rest of the interview.
>> All right, >> Mr. President, we see that many of our brothers and sisters are not in school because of terrorism. What do you plan to do to support and facilitate their schooling?
>> You are absolutely right. Many have been forcibly removed from school because of this phenomenon that brings us grief. Um I think that for this school year we were still able to reopen many schools but I must say that our ambition is to be able to create modern schools. Modern schools in the sense that we must first create real communities where we can establish all the social professional structures and school is part of that. We think every day about creating modern schools um because today there are many villages that people cannot return to or that people had to abandon. Currently people are in certain centers. We have created a framework so that they can study but that is not the best setting for us. So we want people to return to the major centers but we also want to create modern schools that is schools where children can truly thrive. It's not about having a classroom with you know 100 or so students which is quite overcrowded and where instructors have a hard time teaching otherwise that situation already exists. We have set a number of conditions but the objective is to truly create to build modern schools. This year we have already been able to build a few schools in certain cities. It's true that people may not have this information but perhaps a report will be made soon. Schools were built even before the holidays in certain centers where there have been many displaced people. But the objective when we bring people back to their schools is to create new schools where children can learn and truly flourish. So that process is also underway. We have opened many schools for this new school year. So many students have gone back to class. Many centers that were closed have reopened. But we are in the process of building new modern schools so that the children can study and have you know the same opportunities as those who are in the unaffected areas.
>> Your excellency, Mr. President, we would like to know what the government is doing to guarantee the protection of the rights and the safety of children in Burkina Faso.
>> I think that is in my opinion truly the main mission of the government. The entire fight that people are waging is to guarantee the rights of children if I may say so. First the right to life which is a right for everyone. Everyone has the right to life. So everything we are mobilizing, everything we are doing right now is to fight this terrorism. It is to first guarantee the right to life. And when we say the right to life that means the right to protection for children. You see, when a father takes up arms generally to fight evil, he is not doing it for himself. He is doing it for you, the children. If he takes up a weapon and faces the enemy, he is ready to die. But it is to ensure your protection. It is to protect you. So, it is our duty to create these conditions so that men can fight, but also to ensure the protection of you, the children. Today we are living through a certain situation but we hope that your lives will be better than ours that those who do not have certain privileges will have them tomorrow because we are convinced that these conditions can be met in Burkina Faso. So we must fight this evil ensure your right to life which is the fundamental right and therefore ensure your protection but also so that you can fulfill your duties because it's not just about rights. I believe you know this well as was said rights and duties just as we ensure your rights we do everything possible so that you can express yourselves and fulfill your your duties. So that is the primary task of the of the government to do everything possible so that you can grow up and be educated in fairly serene conditions. All right. Have I more or less answered your question?
>> Yes. Thank you very much. >> All right.
>> Mr. President, we see that there are many children living with a disability who are not in school due to a lack of adapted schools or because their parents do not have enough means. What can you do to solve this problem?
You are absolutely right and we also went to the same schools and as you say we have often noticed that not much attention has been paid to this aspect for some time now. We we went to schools where for example for those with motor disabilities there were no provisions for even ramps to allow them to access the school and all that but I think these are things that are being corrected now and as I was telling you earlier we are planning to build modern schools. There are those for example with motor disabilities they will have their basic rights respected in this type of school. For the visually impaired I think braille is being developed. So there are many factors that we are currently studying to integrate into these modern schools I'm talking about. We must indeed take into account the children who have disabilities so that they are not left on the sidelines. And for those who don't have the means, I'm going to tell you something. The objective is to make school free. There are many countries where education is free. Here it is possible. It's possible because we have spent time being made to understand as I say that we are poor. But we are realizing we are not poor. Governance is the problem. And I think that is why we revolted and we are doing everything we can to create the conditions so that these questions you will not have to ask them in the years to come and say that children with disabilities if they don't have the means, education must be a right, it is a right and it must be a reality and it must be free. The dream is to get there. Many countries do it today. Why couldn't we do it in Burkina? So our fight is to be able to make education free so there will be no question of means and to create all the conditions so that whether you live with a disability or not you can therefore benefit from an education. You can be reassured about that. Have I somewhat answered the question?
>> Yes. Thank you Mr. President. >> Thank you very much.
>> Now I invite you to watch a box pop that we have produced. The children share with us their dreams for Burkina Faso. They were interviewed by Faalor and Nadi Trere journalist divine glor.
>> My dream for Burkina Faso is for people to always show respect towards their elders and the authorities. My name is Wedra Glades. My dream is to be a doctor because I want to treat people who are sick. I want Bkina Faso to be at peace and for no one to be sick in Burkina Faso.
>> My name is Kore Olivier. My dream is to be a representative to work to develop the country.
>> My name is Glenn Fatima. As a child, I want all children to be able to go to school without being afraid. For all the internally displaced people to be able to return to their villages that that there is plenty of food in the Faso. My name is Wedrago Abu Bakr Siddik. My dream is for Burkina Nafaso to be at peace and for me to be able to go to school so I can become a nurse one day and for Burkina Paso to develop. My name is Sama Oa. What I want for Burkina, I want peace to return to the Faso for every child to have a loving and supportive family that girls are not forced to get married and that all children can go to school. My name is Mor Abdul Ra Fredwan. In the future, I see a better Burkina. I want health for Burkina, health, happiness, and well-being. peace and most of all I want all the children of Guina Fasa to go to school
Mr. President your reaction after what you have just seen
>> there's one of your classmates Ridan is that right who says that he dreams of a future there for Burkina Faso where there is happiness peace he has summed up many things that is also our dream many talk about peace returning to school and so on I see that you are not naive children. The situation has made you adults and that is everything [clears throat] that we also believe in. Peace must return. You must return to school so that everyone can find their friends so that you can commune so that you can share so that you can live your childhood. We we lived more or less in peace. And if today children are unable to live this minimum of love that they were able to share there, it makes us uneasy. So the fight is to bring back that peace and also as he said a better future, happiness, development, it is possible because I can assure you that your teachers and in any case the educators are every day working diligently and with great dedication to create the conditions for you to be able to learn about the real burkina because what we learned is not necessarily actually good for the mind. What do I mean by that? For example, you are not told about all the potential of Burkina. We must be able to teach you that. So, your school textbooks will surely change. People are working hard to include the realities in them. We learned many lies because that's what imperialism wanted us to learn. But we want to change that with you. that you learn the realities of Burkina and that we can get to work together and be able to get the country out of this situation. All right? And it is very possible. Eating your fill is possible. He said it. Now, do many people today, especially those in school, for example, actually do gardening activities. We I know that each of us had a plot in the school garden. Morning and evening, we watered our plants. We did many things in a practical way. And it's a way of learning agriculture from a young age and that can help contribute to us being self-sufficient. So every child must eat their fill. A child should not be hungry. So that is the fight we are waging. I am very moved and I am very happy that you think the same way. All right. We are encouraged by this.
>> You are a true leader, a role model for us children. Every day on TV, we see the defense and security forces and volunteers for the defense of the homeland fighting terrorists. What is the current situation in the fight against these forces of evil?
>> The current situation, we don't even want you to see certain things. But what I can say is that it's not a pleasure to to kill as they say it's not good. But if people have come to Burkina and started killing Burkina Bay, we have the right to defend ourselves to prevent them from killing Burkina Bay. That is what we are living through. So individuals have been manipulated. They have come to attack the Burkina Bay and we are in the process of organizing ourselves to face them. It's true that the fight has been long. Many people have suffered over these years. But right now we can tell you that we are on a pretty solid track because the first thing is whatever you want to do in life you have to get organized. You can't go in disarray as we like to say even at school for you know in your games you're taught that aren't you? When you hold hands to be stronger or when you stand back to back to push the other to be stronger that's it. It's a way of teaching you not to go in disarray and to get organized. For us it was about organizing the army first. So that is what is underway. You have to organize so that people can go into combat. People who know each other. when you don't know each other it's complicated. So this phase is underway and it's progressing very well. The second thing is equipment. Um we have experienced many situations on the ground. It's like I said what we have experienced we don't want others to experience the same situation tomorrow. The forces had to be equipped. We are working on this issue. Many people today are very well equipped. In any case, on this front, we have made a big effort precisely with the people who understood the mission. You know, it's not magic that we performed there. We explain the situation to the people. We ask people to contribute in order to equip the forces, whether it's individual protection, vehicles, weapons, ammunition. Today, the equipment is fine. People are able to be deployed properly and the fight is advancing. And as you can see, there are many areas where we are advancing. We are resettling the populations progressively and we are consolidating because when you resettle you have to deploy other forces with them to be able to ensure a minimum of security for them and we are advancing progressively. So in principle we can tell you that everywhere in Bkina operations are being conducted whether it's at the far reaches all the borders uh there we are conducting operations and we are resettling the populations as we go. So you will be able to see that later. We don't generally give the names of of all the resettled villages, but every day in any case, villagers are returning to their land and trying to reorganize their lives with the defense and security forces and the volunteers for the defense of the homeland who are helping to ensure their security. So that's a little bit about the situation. It's progressing very well and we are in any case grateful to all those who are currently fighting and we will do everything to give them all that is necessary to succeed. When we are unable, we will go back to the people and we will tell them we need this, we need that and even more sacrifices. Okay? But the fight is progressing very well every day. In any case, we are managing to carry out operations and to achieve victories.
Regarding terrorism, your excellency, we observe that children are forced to leave their families to find themselves alone without help. What is being done to help these children in difficulty?
Many parents, many of your big brothers and big sisters have decided to face this evil. Many lose their lives and children become orphans and others in conditions that are in any case not very bright. And there is a law on the ws of the nation that we have adopted. And I think the objective is what it is that these children whose parents made the ultimate sacrifice, these children whose parents were cut down by these forces of evil that we can give them a better future because we can't just leave them like that. So it's true we have passed laws but they must be put into practice. Currently discussions are underway to create in some centers schools that can first welcome these children so that they can be borders so that they can learn in addition to the pedagogical courses that you learn trades and other things. There will be reforms in the coming days on the educational system itself. But it's because departments have been instructed to take this issue into account then create in any case training centers schools where one learns both normal education and also trades. So the children who will be in an unfavorable situation or those who have lost their parents in this war must be able to have a minimum of life, a minimum of dignity to be able to learn. So we are in this process and as I say the medium or long-term objective is to make education completely free. But in addition to education, the words of the nation, we must also take care of them because there is no one left to support them. So it is a duty for the nation to take care of them. That is why we passed these laws. But it's about the implementation now which is the important phase for us so that by the next school year we can see at least a sample. Okay.
>> We would like to become leaders like you. What will be done to foster the leadership of Bokinabay children in the sub region or even in Africa?
>> Leadership. It's true. To be honest, if you say that I'm a leader, personally speaking, well, I am genuinely happy to hear that. I appreciate that you think of me as someone who guides and inspires others. And I believe you are all potential leaders. You know what exactly does the name Burkina Fazo mean? If you were wondering, that's right, isn't it? Yes. There are many countries in the world where the name might come from a hill, a river or an animal or in any case a symbol that gives the country its name. Few countries are like that. I don't know the meaning behind every country's name but few are the countries where the name defines the quality of its people. Do you understand? Gurkina Faso. The people who live there must be people of integrity. It is the land of people with integrity. So there are many values that you must first embody. Values that you must learn and put into practice and when you can apply these values you become a role model for your peers. Integrity is a very very important value. Honor I believe there's a small booklet and I hope it can be shared widely and that through civic and moral education in schools you can be taught all of these values. What is integrity? What is solidarity? There are many values. When you develop these within yourselves, you become a role model and your word must be your bond. Do you understand? So what we are going to do is introduce into your curriculum a number of carefully selected courses and educational opportunities that will allow you to gradually build up the confidence and skills necessary to become positive role models for your peers and classmates. These courses are specifically designed to support your personal growth and development, helping you to feel empowered and prepared to take on leadership roles within your community. And that's important. After those values, there is hard work, there is being an example, there are many things. So I cannot list what my qualities are because I have flaws too. That's just how it is. No one is perfect. But there are a certain number of qualities that you must have to perhaps be a leader. If you are not an example, people cannot follow you. And when we say example, we mean a good example. Because there are bad examples and there are good examples. So there are vices in life. You must stay away from them absolutely and follow the good example. Someone who doesn't respect their parents, you can't tell someone else to respect their parents because they'll just tell you that you don't respect your own parents. Do you understand? If you don't respect your older brother, you can't tell someone else to respect their older brother. So, there are things that you must be able to do and that will lead others to respect you and to do what you tell them to do. And that's when when you speak, people can believe you. You cannot be a liar and then expect other people not to lie. So there are values that you must absolutely embody. When you give your word, you keep your word. You must not lie. You must not steal. You must not cheat. They teach you all of this in school, don't they? So learn that very well because these are very important values that will allow you to be leaders. When you're a liar, if you speak up, even in your classroom, someone will raise their hand and say, "No, you lied yesterday. You said this and it's not true." You can be mistaken, but you shouldn't lie all the time. You might not know the truth about a subject. You can make a mistake, say something, but you also have to recognize at a certain point that you were wrong. That is also part of the quality of a leader. Because when you say something today, maybe you don't have the truth, but tomorrow if you realize that what you said wasn't true, you have to have the courage, the honesty to admit it and to say, look, yesterday I told you this, but it wasn't true. So today, this is the situation. I apologize. So a leader is many things that you have to combine, but I think that there are good examples in society and normally parents should be good examples to instill all these values in you. And in school, the teachers do it. at home too. It must be done and you have to learn a lot and you are all potential leaders. All right. So leadership we will do everything to instill these values in you at school and allow you to express yourselves to assert yourselves. All right. Does that more or less answer your question?
>> Yes. Thank you very much. >> Okay.
>> Mr. President, we imagine that it is not easy to lead a country in crisis. What can we the children do to help you succeed in your mission?
>> It's not easy. Even if it weren't a country in crisis, it's not easy because leading is it's complicated. You have to be able to rise above it all, listen to everyone, learn many things, and really, as they say, keep a level head. But especially in a country in crisis, a crisis that has lasted a long time, it's it's complicated. But what I am going to ask of you the children is to cultivate patriotism. That is the best thing that you can uh do so that we have the courage to lead the fight. And patriotism it's it's very important. You must love your homeland. And to say homeland is to say yourselves first. You must love one another. You must be supportive of each other. And I assume that at recess everyone shares their snack with the children who don't have any. Isn't that right? You must help your parents. You must support them. You must listen to them. You must do everything to stay away from certain vices. I can say especially drugs. These are things that perhaps the very young don't know what they are. But for those who are a certain age, you are already being told about them. You must do everything to avoid these certain vices because you are the future of the nation. You are the future of the homeland. There is no reason for you to fall into certain vices. Today, the school environment is unfortunately affected, but you must stay away from it. So, there are many things that you must learn to be good patriots. You already respect the colors. The flag is sacred. And when you sing the national anthem, I hope your teachers explain to you what is in it. The words may be a little heavy for you, but it can be explained to you. It is powerful the hymn of victory. So from there you must develop many things to love your neighbor to be supportive and when you love each other you are supportive. When we lead this fight we are sure that well the coming generation is even more united than us and a patriotic generation and that that motivates us. It encourages us. So that can be your contribution. Learn to be patriots. learn to be well the children of Burkina and that is the engine that drives us to fight and to do everything necessary so that you can have a bright future. All right. So I can summarize your contribution as this. Be patriotic children. Be supportive. Love each other. You see peace is within you first and your generation will not know what we have known.
>> Thank you Mr. President. >> Thank you very much. You are a source of strength for uh those who are fighting. When they see you, it encourages them. When they see you encouraging them and that you understand the importance of peace, it encourages them. He mentioned paying for schooling. The objective is for all children to be able to study for free in Burkina Faso and it is possible. We can assure you that it is possible. It's as I was telling you for us. For example, when we were studying, we were uh many things were hidden from us. We were told many lies. But that's because those who colonized us have always had this cunning mindset of perhaps having people in charge who serve their interests but not our interests. So when we make projections, it is possible. It is possible for education in Burkina to be free and it will be. So there should be no need to worry uh normally in a very short time in the years to come about going to school, paying for tuition and everything that should be taken care of and to eat one's fill as he said right now if you're paying attention our fight is also for food self-sufficiency you know because this morning for example when you you had your breakfast did you have croissants or was it bread what did you eat cakes it's made from flour wheat flour is that right do you know that wheat is not produced here. We were told in school that wheat is from America. It's from Europe. There you go. Those are the lessons we learned. You drank milk. Is that right? You didn't drink milk. Do you often drink milk at home? And what kind of milk do you drink? Uh, Neidato, where does that come from? All right. This is to tell you that food self-sufficiency is a fight. From the very first days, I said it in my speech. Every child in this country must be able to eat their fill, sleep peacefully, wake up in the morning and go to school, have fun with their classmates, and come home peacefully, have fun with their neighborhood friends, and sleep in peace. That is our fight. When this condition is met, we will have succeeded in our mission. And we must get there. And when we set a goal, we do everything to achieve it. We are aware that God has given us everything here. I was just telling you about wheat. We were told in school that we couldn't grow it here. We were lied to. We grow wheat here. It works well. And we are going to develop it. People have started. This year I was able to see people who did it as part of the presidential initiative and I was told that a few years ago private individuals tried it and it works. So right now we are sewing wheat in certain areas under the presidential initiative. What you eat must be produced here. Sure. That's why I say we are going to teach you many things and we are going to revise the content of what you are taught. For those who drink coffee, we were made to understand that your chocolates, coffee and so on are from countries where it rains because here it's the savannah. It's the desert. It doesn't rain. We can't cultivate. We were lied to again. It's false. Coffee grows well. Cocoa grows well. There are people who have fields here and it produces very well. Even here in Wagadugu, there are some who have cocoa trees in their yards. This means that the chocolates you might envy from children in slightly welloff family. All children can eat chocolate in Burkina. We have discovered it's possible milk. Why should we import it? We can produce it. This is to tell you there are many things. We were not told the truth. You are lucky and we are teaching you this and we promise you that we will do everything so that you can eat your fill and as we say you will eat well in the morning to go to school, go study for free, eat at noon, have fun, come back in the evening, have fun in the neighborhood, work on your lessons, review and sleep. That is the dream we have. As long as the children of Burkina are not in these conditions, our fight will not stop. Say what? We know that these are equity.
>> These are your aspirations and it's normal. It's legitimate. Every parent fights for that. Even those who don't have children fight in the hope of having children and taking care of them so that they can live in better conditions than them and so that they can be better than them. It's everyone's fight of every generation. We are lucky. God has given us everything everywhere in Burkina. Do you know that we can cultivate everywhere? Everywhere in the Sahel where they tell you it's a desert that it's only sand we can produce. We were lied to a lot in school you know but that's the colonizers conditioning. They make us understand that so that we don't think but we have realized that it's all false. If God left many lakes in this in this desert he knows why we can grow everything in Burkina. We can do everything. The land is fertile and there are things so natural in Burkina that we didn't even plant but they were there. Right? The shade tree. Did you learn to plant sheet trees? You were born and you found them. Right? They grow wild in nature. You know it's a gift from God. There are many things in shea. You have shea butter which is an oil. It's important. Did you know there's chocolate in it? There you go. There are many things. There are seven byproducts in shea. You have the ner tree which is a natural product. Uh many things it's not just the resources under the ground even under the ground. We were taught that the soil is latitic here that it's it's not very rich. It's all false. You see today there is a lot of gold in Burkina but it's just poorly managed. And our mission is to be able to manage these resources well and to support you to take care of you so that you can have your your basic rights uh to live well to go to school and so that we can protect you and also so that you can fulfill your duties because your duties are very important aren't they? You must do your duties. You can't limit yourselves only to rights. When people tell you that you have rights add and duties You have duties to your parents, to your elders, to the homeland. You have duties. Someone talked about traffic lights, traffic, and all that. You see, you can see grown-ups not respecting the traffic lights, not respecting certain things in traffic. But, uh, there are schools where you are taught this, and we hope it will be in all schools. You must not be that kind of adult. civics. You see people driving, they drink their sache of water, they throw it out when they could find a trash can and put it inside. We must clean up. We must make our living environment clean. It's a civic duty. It's civics. You see today the deni fever that that is tiring us. We are making a lot of effort. The doctors, the nurses, this is the place to pay tribute to them. By the way, I see that many children want to be doctors and so on so that people can be in good health. But do you know that this disease is mainly caused by filth? The breeding grounds when we talk about laral breeding grounds, you see the dirty water in the street, the mosquitoes land on it because that's what they want in order to develop. And we are the ones creating the conditions for the mosquitoes to have that to develop. We are very dirty. We must admit it. So we must clean up a lot. Maybe the older ones watch a bit of TV. We launched an initiative uh last week, the presidential initiative for community development. The objective is to clean up our cities. Yes, the epidemic is much more prevalent in Bobo and Aaga, the two major cities, but that's because we are unclean. Those who throw bags in the streets, they go on to clog the gutters. Others throw out dirty water and it it just stays there. In our neighborhoods, we can't we can't even manage to dig the gutters ourselves. We're going to get people to come out and people are going to work. You see those 6 m stretches with no gutters and all. Everyone will contribute a person. We will dig and if we have cement, we'll use it to drain the water towards the main gutters and out of the city. Civic duty is very important. You must learn this and you must always politely of course call out the adults who don't have the right reflexes. When someone throws dirty water somewhere or throws a bag or does anything that isn't civic-minded, find a very polite way to remind them. And I think if a child reminds you not to throw a bag in the street, you should be ashamed and you'll go pick it up and find a trash can to put it in. All right? So, I'm counting on you to do it very politely. You see, if a little one like that sees an adult throw a bag in the street and says, "Hey, mister, you should pick up that bag. Why are you throwing it here?" He should be ashamed and then pick it up. If he doesn't do it, you do it. All right. So, cultivating this civic behavior is very important. Okay. There you go. Any other questions?
>> Man on the street interviews were by Latifah Tudanda and Jeremy Gigma from Denny Voice. Now, the audience may ask five
Questions.
Good morning, Mr. President. My name is Conbo Emlda Asid. I'm in the eighth grade at Gabriel Taborin School. Mr. President, what should children do to avoid breaking the law and not join terrorist groups?
Good morning, Mr. President. My name is Traer Nandi Ketia Pguende. I'm in the third grade, class C, and I'm 8 years old. How can we as children contribute to peace?
Good morning, Mr. President. My name is Yera Akim Yanik. I am 11 years old. I'm in the sixth grade class C at the Christian Alliance High School of Kamuins. Mr. President, there are many sick children in hospitals whose parents don't have the means to pay for their healthcare. What is being done to help them?
Good morning, Mr. President. My name is Kibali Solain. I'm a student in I'm a student in the eighth grade at the Enko Waga campus school. My question is the following, Mr. President. What measures has your government taken to combat child marriage and their employment in gold mining areas?
Good morning, Mr. President. My name is Kenza Wedro. I'm 12 years old in the 8th grade class C at St. John Baptist De Lasal Middle School. Mr. President, today it is an honor for me to fulfill my dream of meeting you and to be able to ask you a question. My question is this, Mr. President, are children's rights one of your government's priorities?
Is that all? All right. Thank you very much.
Thank you, dear friends, for your questions. Now, we will listen to the answers from his excellency, the president of the transition head of state.
The first question is, what should children do to avoid, you know, being on the wrong side of the law and joining groups? If you learn well what your instructors teach you on this subject, you shouldn't normally break the law. And I just spoke to you about patriotism and civic duty which should help you to not break the law. Now when it comes to terrorist groups, you must remember something. It is God who created us. Therefore, we do not have the right to take the life of of anyone. That is a very important factor. And what does terrorism do? It comes to kill, to instill fear and so on. So it is evil. And you must never have evil in your thoughts. Therefore, you must do everything you can to not harm your neighbor. When I say harm, I mean that you really shouldn't even speak to your friend in any way at all that could possibly make them feel unhappy or upset. You must show solidarity. When your friends don't have something or need something, you must support them. You mentioned the children who no longer have parents due to terrorism. You must be able to share everything you have with them. Right? You must be able to help even with your homework in your classes. Those who don't have the ability to learn as well as others. There are very bright students and there are less brilliant students. Some aren't brilliant because they are hungry or because they don't have their parents with them because they have a lot of worries. It's your role to be able to help them, to make them happy, to make them laugh. When you're playing, you must be able to include them to allow them to forget for a little while what they've been through. So that is your contribution. When there are internally displaced children or children who no longer have parents, you must do everything to make them happy. Share everything you have with them. Your joy, your happiness, uh all the material things you have. Yes. If they don't have a pen or whatever else, it's up to those of you who can find one for them. Yes. You must find it for them. Those of you who are lucky enough to have parents who are a bit well off, you should always nudge them to help your fellow children who have less. All right? Yes, that is your contribution. And by learning everything your instructors will teach you about civic duty, I believe you will help prevent children from ending up in the hands of those people. All right? And above all, love your homeland. Everything I've mentioned is about loving your homeland. If there is no Burkina, where would you go? We don't know. We love being in Burkina, don't we? You sang about it just a moment ago. I had goosebumps when you were singing. You must love your country. You must love your country and love your neighbor. Be united. It is a very, very, very important virtue that you must have. Especially you, the children. You must cultivate that. being very united. It is very important especially in these times when there are displaced children and children who have lost their parents. Okay. So I am counting on you to instill these values and to be able to cultivate them around you. As for what constitutes your contribution to peace, it's similar to everything I've already said. You already contribute a great deal by encouraging the forces, by, you know, by expressing these values that you are currently learning. By remaining very polite, by being people who listen to adults, in any case, those who give you good lessons, by being people who listen to their instructors, their parents, their elders, you know, your older brothers, your older sisters, whatever education they give you, you must accept it. I spoke to you about certain vices. They will tell you at school as well. It's not good to smoke. It's not good to cheat. It's not good to, you know, they will tell you many things. You shouldn't do them either. All right? And so you will contribute to having a country at peace. All right?
For sick children, I believe there is already a law. Children of a certain age should receive free care. But we must acknowledge that this is not effective everywhere. care is free for children of a certain age but the reality in some centers is that perhaps they don't have the medicine or other necessary things. Currently the fight is to bring the level of many health facilities uh to a level that is in any case comfortable enough to be able to care for the children and why not even establish a mother child hospital. The project is underway. It's a term from the doctors a mother child hospital like the pediatric hospital we have here where we will treat only the children in fact so we must develop the capacity of these hospitals and these are processes that are underway to be able to give the best of ourselves and care for children up to a certain level to provide them with free care today for certain illnesses care is provided for free we don't even wish for children to have these But it happens that some children for example have illnesses like like like cancer and we have revived our hospital that treats this and it's free for children from zero up to I believe 15 years old. So there are a number of other pathologies where care is also free. But we are working to ensure that within a given age range when a child doesn't feel well and goes to the hospital they can receive everything for free. But this is work that will take time. You know we can't say we'll do it tomorrow but our capacity will increase gradually. We know the reality of our infirmaries and our hospitals and we are making the effort to increase their capacity and create more modern centers to take care of you. Okay.
The other question is about marriage and the gold mining sites. Many laws are currently being reviewed. As I told you, there are things that are not in line with our times and that is what we call reforms. That is what we are doing. There are many laws that we are rereading. within these laws what is called the code of persons and the family. Okay, you see even the penal code all of that is under review and I think we are going to review the issue of early marriage. There are already laws that exist but their application is often difficult and we must acknowledge that in some villages it continues the marriage of children but we must implement measures to ensure there are structures as close as possible to the people to prevent this. And gradually, as I was saying, during the reconquest, when we establish villages, we do everything to support them with all possible structures and to apply the necessary sanctions when people insist on doing it. You've been told this, right? When there are rules in society and you don't respect them, there are sanctions that come with it. Isn't that right? There you go. So, if adults force children to marry, there are sanctions provided for that. We are reviewing the laws. perhaps to make the sanctions more severe so that no one dares to do it. All right, there you go. You must live your childhood and when the time comes have a choice. So it's a combat, it's a struggle. We are working on it. Regarding the gold mining sites, it's true. It's a reality. We see it in the images. We too have been on the ground and have seen a lot. The children who work there currently. We are looking to first mechanize even the artisanal sites. We want to mechanize everything. If we manage to make education free, all children will go to school. Do you think they will still go to the gold mining sites? No. So if school becomes free and we can eat our fill, you will no longer see children on the gold mining sites. Children don't go there for for pleasure because they are very exposed. There are chemicals like mercury, cyanide. It's very dangerous. It's not good for your health and we recognize that. And even for the adults who work there, as I said, we are trying to mechanize the process so they don't come into contact with those substances because that that destroys our youth. Many people have techniques to to mechanize their gold panning a bit. And if we manage to do that and make education free and produce seriously so that everyone can eat their fill, I think no child will be found on the gold mining sites.
If children's rights are part of the priorities, rights and duties, that's what I'm saying. All right? But children's rights are everyone's priority, not just our governments. The first right is the right to life. It is the very essence of our struggle. So it is a priority. The right to education is the essence of our struggle. Just now, what was I telling you? We were lied to and we don't want you to be lied to. It's education. What must we put in your minds for the country to do well? So it is a right that we must do everything possible to teach you the realities of Bkina what is good for Bkina and for you to be very good Bkina Bay. So this right to education whether we like it or not if we want this country to remain Bkina we are obliged to develop it. So it is part of our priorities and as I say all those who are fighting today on the front lines FDS VDP it is to protect you. When a father stands up and takes up a weapon and goes to confront the enemy it is so that his children can live in peace. He is ready to die but he wants to protect his his children. So it is part of your rights that we protect you. You can be reassured that is the entire struggle we are waging. And I'll summarize it again with the same phrase I always use. Your children must be able to eat your fill, go to school peacefully, and sleep in peace. So that is part of our struggle.