Lassina Zerbo: Here's all you need to know about Burkina Faso's new Prime Minister

Burkina Faso’s President Roch Marc Christian Kabore on Friday evening picked Lassina Zerbo as the nation’s Prime Minister. According to a decree signed by Kabore, Zerbo, who was executive secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation (CTBTO), is now the Prime Minister of Burkina Faso. Lassina Zerbo has replaced Christophe Joseph Marie Dabire who was dismissed earlier this week.

Zerbo has served as director of the CTBTO’s International Data Centre. He became the PM of Burkina Faso after President Kabore sacked Christophe Joseph Marie Dabire amid weeks of anti-government protests in which demonstrators criticised his administration’s inability to stem extremist attacks by al-Qaeda and the Islamic State across the West African nation. According to AP, Dabire was removed as a result of the President’s commitment to setting up a “tighter and more cohesive government”. 

Know more about Lassina Zerbo

Meanwhile, it is to mention that Lassina Zerbo is a geophysicist, who was instrumental in cementing the CTBTO’s position as the world’s centre of excellence for nuclear test-ban verification, as well as in driving forward efforts towards the entry into force and universalisation of the CTBT. As the Director of the CTBTO’s International Data Centre from 2004 to 2013, Zerbo was the focal point on CTBT issues related to the nuclear tests conducted by North Korea. He even led the CTBT Science and Technology conferences in 2011 and 2013 and managed the successful deployment of the CTBT virtual Data Exploitation Centre (vDEC). 

As the Executive Secretary of the CTBTO, Zerbo initiated the establishment of the Group of Eminent Persons (GEM), comprising internationally recognized personalities and experts to promote the Treaty's entry into force and to reinvigorate global endeavours to achieve this goal. Later, he also announced the establishment of the CTBTO Youth Group. Zerbo is known for securing China’s resumed technical cooperation with the CTBTO, leading to the certification of the first five International Monitoring System stations on Chinese territory. 

Zerbo  secured a commitment by Cuba to join the Treaty. This led to the establishment of the Technology Support and Training (TeST) Centre in Jordan as well. Zerbo has been awarded “Arms Control Person of the Year” by the Arms Control Association, USA. In 2015, he also became a Commander of the National Order of Burkina Faso for his work towards the preservation of peace and global security. Zerbo was awarded the Presidential Medal on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Republic of Kazakhstan. He also received Special Honorary Citizenship of the City of Hiroshima. More recently, he was awarded the Order of Merit of the Republic of Madagascar in recognition of his leadership, his action on capacity building, and his promotion of multilingualism.

(Image: Twitter/@KoukaBouba)