- Author, Cecilia Macaulay & Joseph Winter
- Role, BBC News
Photo credit, AFP
French equipment will remain in Burkina Faso until spring, reports AFP
France accepted the request of Burkina Faso’s military leaders to withdraw all its troops from the country.
Burkina Faso, which is currently fighting a jihadist insurgency, says it wants to defend itself.
There are currently 400 French special forces in Burkina Faso, which have only one month to leave.
France also left neighboring Mali last year, where its troops had spent eight years fighting Islamist militants.
France has retained close military ties with many of its former colonies in West Africa and has helped several of them fight jihadists active in the region as part of the now ended Operation Barkhane.
However, maintaining its economic ties has generated some resentment of its role, which Russia has exploited.
Mali and the Central African Republic are now working with the Russian mercenary group Wagner.
Burkina Faso has denied reports that it would also engage the Wagner group against the jihadists, but a mercenary liaison team has already been there, according to the AFP news agency.
A spokesperson for the French Foreign Ministry confirmed that the Burkinabè government had sent a written request for the departure of its troops.
“We will abide by the terms of the agreement by honoring this request,” the spokesperson said.
Photo credit, Getty Images
Burkina Faso has been hit by a decade-long insurgency that has forced nearly two million people from their homes.
More recently, suspected jihadists abducted around 60 women who were looking for food in the north of the country. Earlier this month, the bodies of 28 people who were shot dead were found in the northwestern town of Nouna. They have since been released.
Since Captain Ibrahim Traore took power in Burkina Faso in September, much speculation has swirled that he might start working with Russian mercenaries, which neighboring Ghana has described as “heartbreaking”.
Captain Traoré has promised to reclaim territories from the jihadists and to organize democratic elections in July 2024.