France will continue “to be available for the partners who will fight against terrorism”, assures the Minister of the Armed Forces

“The issue of terrorism remains unfortunately a major topic in Africa”reacted on Wednesday February 22 on franceinfo the Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu, while earlier in the day, Paris confirmed the withdrawal of its soldiers from Burkina Faso. “Ukraine must not make us Europeans myopic about security threats“, he added, specifying that France will continue “to be available for partners who will fight against terrorism”.

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Among these partners “of combat, cooperation or training”, the Minister of the Armed Forces cited Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Benin and Niger. Countries, which according to Sébastien Lecornu, have made the fight against terrorism a “top priority”. Others like “Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali have unfortunately chosen to turn away from this priority”he regretted.

The Minister also points out that it is often a question of “powers resulting from a coup d’etat which are therefore not democratically elected powers”. These decisions have an immediate impact according to Sébastien Lecornu, who recalls the death this weekend of 70 soldiers in Burkina Faso in two attacks attributed to jihadist groups. “It’s terrible but it’s terrible above all for Africa”he concluded.