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The Barkhane force soldiers had a hard time last weekend in Burkina Faso. A convoy was attacked by demonstrators in the north of the country. French soldiers fired warning shots, and four people were injured.
A French military convoy of fifty vehicles was arrested Thursday, November 18, arriving in the city of Kaya (Burkina Faso) by hundreds of demonstrators, hostile to the French presence. “We don’t need the French army. We can attack the jihadists ourselves”, says one of them. The French then retreated to a vacant lot, in a fenced area. Protesters tried to force entry, and threw stones. The French army then said to have fired in the air in order to disperse the demonstrators, while the Burkinabe gendarmes used tear gas. Four people were reportedly injured. One of the army’s image capture drones was also shot down.
On social networks, demonstrators accuse French soldiers of delivering weapons to terrorists. “This anti-French sentiment is fueled by some groups […] who attack the action of France, and do not hesitate to spread false information on social networks “, explains Colonel Pascal Ianni, spokesperson for the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces. France implicitly designates Russia, suspected of supporting the anti-French. Burkina Faso has been facing very deadly jihadist attacks for six years, almost every week. A violence which neither the French army nor the local army seem able to put an end to.