Pan-African festival opens in Burkina Faso’s capital months after being delayed by the coronavirus pandemic.
![A sculpture outside the FESAPCO building in Ouagadogou [Henry Wilkins/Al Jazeera]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/2.jpg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)

Pan-African festival opens in Burkina Faso’s capital months after being delayed by the coronavirus pandemic.
![A sculpture outside the FESAPCO building in Ouagadogou [Henry Wilkins/Al Jazeera]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/2.jpg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
France says seven-year Sahel operation will come to an end, indicating troop drawdown and restructuring of its presence.
![The violence in Burkina Faso has forced 1.2 million people from their homes [File: Olympia de Maismont/AFP]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/000_9CP7QD.jpg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
Dozens of men, women and children perished in single deadliest attack in Burkina Faso since its conflict began in 2015.
![Burkina Faso's Prime Minister Christophe Joseph Marie Dabire gestures during a visit at the site of the attack in the village of Solhan, [Burkina Faso Prime Minister's Press Service/Handout via Reuters]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/2021-06-08T140531Z_528156742_RC2OVN9NB0ER_RTRMADP_3_BURKINA-SECURITY.jpg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
Government move causes concern about press freedom and the visibility of the country’s humanitarian crisis.
![There are more than 1.2 million internally displaced people in Burkina Faso [File: Olympia de Maismont/AFP]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/000_1O77A4.jpg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
Chad’s neighbours and Western allies anxious about stability of nation central in fight against region’s armed groups.
![French President Emmanuel Macron (L) welcomes Chadian President Idriss Deby at the Elysee Palace in Paris on November 12, 2019 [File: Francois Mori/AP Photo]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/AP_19316494148594.jpg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
Court indicts Burkina Faso’s exiled former president for alleged complicity in 1987 murder of man he removed in coup.
![Captain Thomas Sankara, President of Burkina Faso, in August 1986 [Getty]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/f2d2ecd85bb24410bce70610c9f22640_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
Decline raises many questions, especially since the number of violent incidents has remained the same.

France expected to announce Barkhane troop drawdown as Sahel leaders increasingly mull negotiations with armed groups.
![The last major Sahel summit was held a year ago in Pau, France [File: Guillaume Horcajuelo/Pool Reuters]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/2020-01-13T202011Z_784466844_RC28FE9X02XA_RTRMADP_3_FRANCE-SAHEL.jpg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
Could Burkinabe president’s second term see a new approach to security or could spiraling violence trigger civil unrest?

Burkinabes go to the polls on Sunday as the country faces an escalating humanitarian and economic crisis.
![n 2014, protesters opposed Blaise Compaore's bid to change the constitution so that he could extend his 27-year rule [File: Joe Penney/Reuters]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/2015-09-18T120000Z_1135547103_GF10000210876_RTRMADP_3_BURKINA-ARMY.jpg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)