(Ouagadougou) Burkina Faso has requested the departure of French troops from its soil within a month, confirms an official document sent to AFP on Sunday, while French President Emmanuel Macron said he was waiting for “clarifications” from Ouagadougou in this new episode of tensions between the two countries.
In a letter from the Burkinabè Ministry of Foreign Affairs addressed to Paris and dated Wednesday, Ouagadougou “denounces and puts an end in its entirety to the agreement” of December 17, 2018 “relating to the status of the French armed forces intervening” in the Sahelian country.
Burkina currently hosts a contingent of nearly 400 French special forces, the Saber force.
“In view of the one-month notice period imposed by the said agreement in the event of denunciation, the Burkinabè Ministry of Foreign Affairs would appreciate that particular diligence be given to this upon receipt”, specifies the document.
The Burkinabè diplomatic source was unable to confirm on Sunday whether Paris had acknowledged receipt of this letter.
When questioned, the French presidency indicated that it was awaiting confirmation of the Burkinabè position at the “highest level”.
Sunday afternoon, President Emmanuel Macron said he was waiting for “clarifications” from Burkina Faso on a possible request for the departure of French troops stationed in the country within a month.
Referring to “great confusion”, he explained at a press conference in Paris that he wanted to wait for Burkina Faso’s transitional president Ibrahim Traoré “to be able to express himself”, calling for “to be very careful” on the subject.
A source close to the Burkinabè government told AFP on Saturday that Ouagadougou requested “the departure of French soldiers as soon as possible”, confirming information from the Burkinabè Information Agency (AIB).
The Russian Shadow
France, a former colonial power, has been contested in Burkina Faso for several months.
In December, the Burkinabè authorities had asked Paris to replace the French ambassador to Ouagadougou, Luc Hallade, in their crosshairs, in particular for having reported on the deterioration of the security situation in the country.
Several demonstrations, the last Friday, also took place in Ouagadougou to demand in particular the withdrawal of French forces from the country.
On January 10, Paris sent Secretary of State Chrysoula Zacharopoulou to meet the transitional president there.
“France does not impose anything, it is available to invent a future together”, she insisted, ensuring that she did not want to “influence any choice or any decision, no one can dictate their choices in Burkina”.
Since coming to power in September following a putsch, the second in eight months, Captain Traoré and his government have shown their desire to diversify their partnerships, particularly in the fight against jihadism which has undermined this country since 2015.
Among the new partners envisaged by Ouagadougou, the question of a possible rapprochement with Russia is regularly raised.
“Russia is a choice of reason in this dynamic”, and “we believe that our partnership must be strengthened”, underlined last week the Prime Minister of Burkina Faso Apollinaire Kyélem de Tembela, after an interview with the Russian Ambassador Alexey Saltykov.
At the beginning of December, he had made a discreet visit to Moscow.
This request for the departure of French forces recalls the precedent of neighboring Mali: last summer, the junta in power in Bamako had ordered French forces to leave the country after nine years of presence.
Multiple sources report that the Malian authorities began bringing in the Russian paramilitary group Wagner at the end of 2021, whose actions are decried in various countries, which the junta denies.
Burkina Faso, particularly in its northern half, has been confronted since 2015 with increasing attacks by jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. They left thousands dead and at least two million displaced.
On Thursday, around 30 people died in a series of attacks affecting several localities in the north and north-west of the country.
Captain Ibrahim Traoré has set himself the objective of “reconquering the territory occupied by these hordes of terrorists”.