Burkina Faso’s military-led government has approved a sweeping biometric national ID initiative to replace its legacy identification system, marking a major step toward digital governance and regional integration. Announced during a Council of Ministers meeting on November 6, the program will issue new chip-enabled ID cards storing citizens’ biometric data—including fingerprints and facial scans—starting with children as young as five years old. Security Minister Mahamadou Sana said the initiative aligns with standards of the Confederation of Sahel States (AES), a political bloc formed by Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger after their withdrawal from ECOWAS. The ID cards will serve as the primary legal identity document, valid for 10 years, and will be rolled out gradually over five years. The AES states also plan to link their systems through an interoperability network that facilitates digital access and cross-border tracking.

While presented as a tool for “security and modernization,” the new biometric infrastructure represents another move toward centralized surveillance under global digital identity standards. Partnering with Chinese biometrics firm Emptech—already behind Mali’s new digital passports—the AES bloc is building a regional identity framework that fuses personal data, border control, and digital services. Such systems are steadily spreading across Africa and the world, reinforcing the technological foundation for an era of total monitoring and control. Revelation 13 speaks of a future system in which identity and commerce are inseparably linked—an idea that once seemed far-fetched but is now quietly advancing nation by nation. The drive for digital convenience is rapidly becoming the road to digital captivity.

SOURCE: Biometric Update