Burkina Faso announces the official end of operations by French troops on its soil

France is invited to leave quickly. The Burkinabè army announced, on Sunday February 19, the end of the operations of the French Saber Force in Burkina Faso. The announcement comes three weeks after the denunciation of the defense agreements linking the two countries, by the transitional government, in this country plagued by jihadist violence.

“The General Staff of the Armed Forces and the command of Task Force Saber organized this Saturday, February 18, 2023 within the Camp Bila Zagré compound in Kamboincin [en périphérie de Ouagadougou]a solemn flag-lowering ceremony marking the official end of the Task Force’s operations from Burkinabe soil.”announced the Burkinabè staff in a press release.

According to the text, this ceremony was chaired by the head of the Burkinabe army, Colonel Adam Néré and French Lieutenant-Colonel Louis Lecacheur, representing the commander of the Saber force, a contingent of 400 special forces. “The disengagement of the remaining Saber equipment and materials will be finalized by a team of logisticians deployed for this purpose, according to a timetable defined in agreement with the General Staff of the Armed Forces”, specifies the press release which does not mention the number of French soldiers still in the country. According to a Burkinabè security source, “a large part of the soldiers have already left”.