Burkina Faso demands withdrawal of French troops ‘within a month’

The new African government no longer wants military aid from France. Burkina Faso this week demanded the withdrawal of French troops from its territory within a month, the Burkina Faso news agency (AIB) and a source close to the government said on Saturday evening.

“The government of Burkina Faso denounced last Wednesday the agreement that has regulated the presence of French armed forces on its territory since 2018,” AIB said, indicating that the deadline for this withdrawal is “one month”. According to a source close to the government, the authorities demanded “the speedy withdrawal of French soldiers.”

Radiodiffusion Télévision du Burkina (RTB) also reported on Saturday that the government of Burkina Faso would suspend the 2018 military agreement from January 18, which allowed the presence of French soldiers in Burkina Faso. France will have one month to withdraw its troops from the country, RTB reported, citing AIB, Burkina’s news agency.

“This is not a break in relations with France. The notice concerns only agreements on military cooperation,” she said. France, a former colonial power, has been fighting in Burkina Faso for months.

Several demonstrations last Friday have recently taken place in Ouagadougou demanding the withdrawal of France from the Sahelian country, which hosts a contingent of nearly 400 French special forces. Paris sent Secretary of State Chrysulou Zaharopoulou there last week to meet with the transitional president.

Shadow of Russia

“France does not impose anything, it is ready to invent the future together,” she insisted, assuring that she did not want to “influence any choice or any decision, no one can dictate their choice in Burkina.” The Burkina authorities, who came to power in a coup in September, the second in eight months, have expressed a desire to diversify their partnerships, in particular in the fight against jihadism, which has been undermining the country since 2015.

Potential rapprochement with Russia is regularly raised among prospective new partners. “Russia is the smart choice in this dynamic,” and “we believe our partnership needs to be strengthened,” Burkina Faso Prime Minister Apollinaire Chieleme de Tembela said Saturday at the end of an interview with Russian Ambassador Alexei Saltykov. . In early December, he secretly visited Moscow.

Last summer, the junta in power in neighboring Mali ordered French troops to leave the country after nine years of presence. Several sources say the Malian junta began bringing in the Russian paramilitary group Wagner in late 2021, whose actions are condemned in various countries, which the junta denies.