by Thiam Ndiaga
OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) – Several hundred demonstrators descended on the center of Ouagadougou on Friday to protest against the French presence in Burkina Faso, where sentiment against the former colonial power, strong for months, has been further accentuated since the coup of State on September 30.
At the cry of “France get out”, the protesters notably demanded the departure of some 400 members of the French special forces stationed at the Kamboinsin base near the Burkinabe capital. Some burned the French flag.
“We want (…) to show France that we no longer need it,” said protester Adama Sawadogo.
Tensions between Burkina and France are partly fueled by the jihadist violence that has bloodied the north of the country since 2015, with some Burkinabè criticizing the French soldiers for not having put an end to insecurity and calling for help from Russia.
The demonstration passed without incident, while the French embassy was violently targeted on October 1, the day after the dismissal of junta leader Paul-Henri Damiba, the second putsch in less than a year. in the country.
The new military authorities led by Captain Ibrahim Traoré, who became transitional president, suspended the broadcast of Radio France Internationale (RFI) in early December and demanded in early January the replacement of the French ambassador to Ouagadougou, Luc Hallade.
“There was a coup d’etat, and there is an anti-French discourse which is sometimes disseminated, in an organized, methodical way (…) with potentially, links, can one imagine, yes, between this anti-French campaign and (the Russian paramilitary group) Wagner,” French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said on January 5 on the LCI channel.
Paris decided to withdraw its troops from Mali last year, citing the junta’s delay in restoring constitutional rule and Bamako’s decision to call on the Wagner group to fight Islamist rebels.
No decision has yet been made on the French soldiers stationed in Ouagadougou but all the options are on the table as part of a global review of the French military system in Africa, they say at the Ministry of the Armed Forces.
(French version Jean-Stéphane Brosse)