Thousands of Burkinabe took to the streets of the country’s capital, Ouagadougou, this weekend to applaud the decision taken by the military junta led by Captain Ibrahim Traoré to withdraw the French military contingent from the country under agreements signed with Paris in 2018.
The announcement made on Monday by the so-called «transitional government» was greeted with applause by sectors of the population who had been calling for months for the withdrawal of French troops, considered as a colonialist expression.
«Thanks to His Excellency Comrade Captain Traoré and the brave people of Burkina Faso, we have driven the French contingent out of the country. We are nobody’s slaves,» assured one of the demonstrators, Gislain Dabiré, to the Burkina24 news portal during last Saturday’s large demonstration.
The demonstrators also applauded the replacement of the French ambassador to Burkina, Luc Hallade, and the suspension of broadcasts by Radio France Internationale (RFI), the French international public broadcaster, all signs of a deep deterioration in bilateral relations due, according to the French government, to Russia’s growing influence in the country through, in particular, the presence there of the Wagner mercenary group.
The secretary general of the Collective of Pan-African Leaders and organizer of the demonstration, Alpha Segbo, has assured that the latest events should not be interpreted as a gesture of enmity towards the French population, but as an expression of «the problem of the French government’s policy».
Another demonstration held on Saturday in the northern city of Ouahigouya particularly applauded relations with Russia as an ally in the fight against jihadist terrorism. «The partnership with Russia has only one objective: that they provide us with the equipment we need, because our men have the necessary quality to put an end to this war,» assured one of the organizers of the march, Ali Badra.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
