French soldiers left Burkinabe territory

The French soldiers have left Burkina Faso, in full, learned the international editorial staff of Radio France from the Ministry of the Armed Forces, Wednesday, February 22. According to our information, the fighting forces have all left Burkinabe territory but “some residual logistical elements may still be present on site”.

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The regime of Captain Ibrahim Traoré, who came to power by a double coup in the fall of 2022, had given France 30 days to withdraw its troops, i.e. until February 25, denouncing the agreement relating to the status of French forces in the country. On Sunday, the Burkinabè army announced the end of the tricolor operations, without the date of the actual departure of the last soldiers being communicated.

The announcement of this total withdrawal from Ouagadougou marks the end of the operations of the French Saber force in Burkina Faso, after 15 years of mission in the country. It was deployed in 2009, as part of the anti-jihadist fight in the Sahel. The places or dates of redeployment of the 400 soldiers of the Saber force have not been communicated at this stage.