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BURKINA FASO: French Operation Ends

BURKINA FASO: French Operation Ends The country is looking towards Moscow for support.Burkina Faso announced on February 18th that French army operations in the country had officially ended, state‐owned AIB news agency reported (19/2).The occasion was marked with a flag‐lowering ceremony at Camp Bila Zagre in Kamboincin, on the outskirts of Ouagadougou, where French special forces used to be based. The ceremony was attended by Col Adam Nere, the Burkinabe army land forces chief of staff, and France's Lt Col Louis Lecacheur of Task Force Sabre.The report added that “disengagement of the remaining French military equipment will be finalised by a team of logisticians deployed for this purpose, according to a schedule defined in agreement with the General Staff of the armed forces”.The ceremony happened months after the Burkina Faso military junta reneged on a 2018 agreement on deployment of French special forces in the insurgency‐hit Sahel country.Relations between France and Burkina Faso – its former colony – have worsened since interim President Capt Ibrahim Traore toppled Lt Col Paul‐Henri Damiba, who was seen as being pro‐France. (Agence d'Information du Burkina 19/2)In January France had confirmed it would withdraw its contingent of hundreds of troops stationed in Burkina Faso, after the junta ruling the Sahel country demanded the force pull out within four weeks.The request came days after Burkina's Prime Minister Apollinaire Kyelem de Tembela declared Russia to be a “reasonable” choice of new partner in the anti‐jihadist fight.“This does not mean the end of diplomatic relations between Burkina Faso and France,” government spokesman Jean‐Emmanuel Ouedraogo told broadcaster RTV following the announcement.Their departure marks another significant step in the scaling‐down of France's military presence in the region. The junta in neighbouring Mali also insisted French troops leave and in 2022 French President Emmanuel Macron ended the anti‐jihadist Barkhane mission there after a decade.As French forces quit the region, there is concern among Western countries over the increasing influence of Russia, in particular the presence of mercenaries from the Wagner group run by an ally of President Vladimir Putin. (© AFP 19/2 2023) http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Africa Research Bulletin Political Social and Cultural Series Wiley

BURKINA FASO: French Operation Ends

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Publisher
Wiley
Copyright
© 2023 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
ISSN
0001-9844
eISSN
1467-825X
DOI
10.1111/j.1467-825x.2023.10953.x
Publisher site
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Abstract

The country is looking towards Moscow for support.Burkina Faso announced on February 18th that French army operations in the country had officially ended, state‐owned AIB news agency reported (19/2).The occasion was marked with a flag‐lowering ceremony at Camp Bila Zagre in Kamboincin, on the outskirts of Ouagadougou, where French special forces used to be based. The ceremony was attended by Col Adam Nere, the Burkinabe army land forces chief of staff, and France's Lt Col Louis Lecacheur of Task Force Sabre.The report added that “disengagement of the remaining French military equipment will be finalised by a team of logisticians deployed for this purpose, according to a schedule defined in agreement with the General Staff of the armed forces”.The ceremony happened months after the Burkina Faso military junta reneged on a 2018 agreement on deployment of French special forces in the insurgency‐hit Sahel country.Relations between France and Burkina Faso – its former colony – have worsened since interim President Capt Ibrahim Traore toppled Lt Col Paul‐Henri Damiba, who was seen as being pro‐France. (Agence d'Information du Burkina 19/2)In January France had confirmed it would withdraw its contingent of hundreds of troops stationed in Burkina Faso, after the junta ruling the Sahel country demanded the force pull out within four weeks.The request came days after Burkina's Prime Minister Apollinaire Kyelem de Tembela declared Russia to be a “reasonable” choice of new partner in the anti‐jihadist fight.“This does not mean the end of diplomatic relations between Burkina Faso and France,” government spokesman Jean‐Emmanuel Ouedraogo told broadcaster RTV following the announcement.Their departure marks another significant step in the scaling‐down of France's military presence in the region. The junta in neighbouring Mali also insisted French troops leave and in 2022 French President Emmanuel Macron ended the anti‐jihadist Barkhane mission there after a decade.As French forces quit the region, there is concern among Western countries over the increasing influence of Russia, in particular the presence of mercenaries from the Wagner group run by an ally of President Vladimir Putin. (© AFP 19/2 2023)

Journal

Africa Research Bulletin Political Social and Cultural Series – Wiley

Published: Mar 1, 2023

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