![]() The presence of some 1,400 Wagner mercenaries, especially in the center of the country and in the Gao and Ménaka regions, is already being felt. In neighboring Mali, however, authorities have decided to go down the path of military cooperation with Russia to replace the French troops that were expelled last summer. The last two terrorist attacks, last Thursday and Sunday, caused 19 deaths, including nine civilian volunteers. But this has caused a change in strategy for the terrorists, who have now targeted the Volunteers for Homeland Defense (VDP), whose training and equipment are still deficient. The enlistment of 50,000 civilians to fight side by side with the army and the introduction of new resources, such as drones and helicopters, reinforce the government thesis that since November an offensive has been underway against jihadist groups with ties to Al-Qaeda and Islamic State. Wagner? We already have our Wagners, the volunteers we are recruiting are our first Wagners,” he assured. But when the country finds itself in this blockade situation, endogenous solutions must be developed. “That rumor has been created so that everyone will stay away from us. Two weeks ago, Captain Traoré himself joked in an interview with Burkinabe Radio Television (RTB) about the alleged presence of Russian mercenaries in the country, asking where they were. It could happen, but Burkina Faso is not Mali, the people here are very proud of their sovereignty,” says a source specializing in security issues. “I doubt they will bring in Wagner’s people. But for now Traoré has not crossed the red line that the West marked in neighboring Mali: the arrival of mercenaries from the private company Wagner, with close ties to the Kremlin. This rapprochement has materialized in recent months with a visit to Moscow by Prime Minister Kyélem Appolinaire de Tambèla, and numerous other gestures of complicity. Just hours after he had taken power, Captain Traoré announced his intention to diversify his alliances to confront terrorism, opening the door to a closer collaboration with Russia, his main provider of arms and military vehicles. We are willing to die, we are the sacrificial generation.” Diversify alliances to stop terrorismĪt the root of popular unrest is the failure of the former Burkinabe authorities and their French military allies to stop the advance of jihadism, which now controls more than half of the territory. “A street revolutionary will come to power in his place. “If they have the idea to overthrow him by force, we will not take it lying down,” warns Kam. Questioned by the military hierarchy, which views him as an opportunist, the young head of state is relying on what he himself calls “the conscious youth,” a euphemism for the enormous popular support he enjoys. The regime of Captain Traoré, who came to power after a coup d’état on September 30, has already complied with the first two points of this plan, much to popular delight: he has expelled the French ambassador, Luc Hallade, and ordered the departure of the 400 soldiers of the French Special Forces based in Kamboinsin, near the capital, a measure that will take place this month. The collective, which bears the name of the last Mossi king who opposed the former metropolis, has published its “decolonization plan,” which includes rejecting French cooperation and even banishing the French language from the educational system. “Everything is controlled by Paris or by French companies: cooperation, currency, aviation and even our biometric data, and meanwhile our population remains mired in misery. If they wanted to, in two days they could put an end to terrorism in the region, but all this violence is in their own interest to keep us under their yoke,” says Yéli Monique Kam, coordinator of the M30 Naaba Wobgo citizen movement. Paris’s once-glorious influence in West Africa is faltering as Moscow emerges as a military ally of choice. But this is just the tip of the iceberg of a much broader anti-French sentiment sweeping the region. In just under a year, French troops have been expelled from two countries that are key to France’s security strategy in the Sahel region: Mali last summer and Burkina Faso this month. Russian flags and photos of Russian President Vladimir Putin were on prominent display along with national flags and placards reading “French army out of our country!” There was a feeling of euphoria in the air. In Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, thousands of citizens could be seen demonstrating at the Place de la Nation on January 20 to show support for the military junta of Captain Ibrahim Traoré and his recent decision to expel the French military from the country. Captain Ibrahim Traoré, president of Burkina Faso, in Ouagadougou on October 15, 2022.
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