The country currently hosts a contingent of nearly 400 French special forces, the Saber force. Ouagadougou demands the departure of the French army within a month, its spokesman said on Monday.
Burkina Faso’s government spokesman confirmed Monday (January 23rd) that authorities in Ouagadougou had requested the departure of French troops based in the country within a month.
“What we denounce is the agreement that allows French forces to be present in Burkina Faso. This is not the end of diplomatic relations between Burkina Faso and France“, said Jean-Emmanuel Ouedraogo, in an interview on Radio-Television du Burkina (RTB).
French forces are based in Ouagadougou at the request of Burkina Faso and its authorities. “This denunciation is in the normal order of things, it is provided for in the terms of the military agreement“, he continued, indicating that the denunciation of the agreements left “one month to the other party to accede to this request“. Burkina currently hosts a contingent of nearly 400 French special forces, the Saber force.
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Ouagadougou believes to have been clear
In a letter from the Burkinabè Ministry of Foreign Affairs addressed to Paris and dated Wednesday January 18, of which AFP had a copy, Ouagadougou “denounces and terminates the agreement in its entirety» of December 17, 2018 «relating to the status of the French armed forces interveningin the Sahelian country.
On Sunday afternoon, French President Emmanuel Macron said he was waiting “clarificationsfrom Burkina Faso on a possible request for the departure of French troops. In the evening, the French presidency had indicated that it was waiting for confirmation of the Burkinabe position at the “highest level“.
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“At the current stage we do not see how to make it any clearer than thatsaid Jean-Emmanuel Ouédraogo on Monday. For him, this request for the departure of the French forces “is not linked to a specific event“. “It is linked to the desire today, of the authorities of the transition and of all Burkinabè, to be the first actors in the reconquest of our territory.“, he added.
France, however, said Monday afternoon was still waiting for clarifications from the president of the Burkinabe transition, said the spokeswoman for the Quai d’Orsay. “We have received the note verbale (from the Burkinabè ministry) sent to our embassy“, announced Monday, January 23 to AFP Anne-Claire Legendre in a written statement. “As the President of the Republic said yesterday, we are waiting for the President of the Burkinabè transition to clarify the scope of this note“, she added while the last official bilateral exchanges took place on January 10 between Captain Traoré and Secretary of State Chrysoula Zacharopoulou.
SEE ALSO – “We’re fed up with them”: Burkinabés demand the departure of French troops
Taking charge of the reconquest of the territory
The transitional president, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, who came to power in September thanks to a putsch, the second in eight months, has set himself the objective of “the reconquest of the territoryon jihadist groups.
Burkina Faso, particularly in its northern half, has been confronted since 2015 with increasing attacks by groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS) organization. They left thousands dead and at least two million displaced.
France, a former colonial power, has been contested in Burkina for several months. In December, the Burkinabè authorities had asked Paris to replace the French ambassador to Ouagadougou, Luc Hallade, in their crosshairs for in particular having reported on the deterioration of the security situation in the country.
Relations with Russia
The new authorities have in recent weeks initiated a rapprochement with Russia. “Russia is a choice of reason in this dynamic” and “we believe that our partnership must be strengthenedsaid Burkinabe Prime Minister Apollinaire Kyélem de Tambela two weeks ago after an interview with Russian Ambassador Alexey Saltykov.