Dec. 21 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Prime Minister of Burkina Faso, Apollinaire Joachimson Kyelem de Tambela, has invited Russia to “take its place” in the African country, days after the President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo, denounced that Ouagadougou had accepted the deployment of mercenaries from the Wagner Group, owned by an oligarch close to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“We would love for Russia to take its rightful place as a great nation in my country,” he said in an interview with the Russian television channel RT France, before stressing that Moscow “has a history and experience” that Burkina Faso would like him to “share” with the Burkinabe authorities.
Thus, he has opted for “strengthening cooperation relations in all possible fields” and has detailed that “the highest priority is the field of security”. The Burkinabe prime minister has recognized a temporary problem in this regard and has expressed his desire to “fix it in some time”.
“We hope that Russia will be an ally of Burkina Faso (in the fight against terrorism), like the rest of the partners,” he said, as reported by the Burkinabe radio station Radio Omega. “We know that Russia is a great power and, if she wants, she could really help us a lot in this field,” she concluded.
Kyelem de Tambela himself recently asked France for the delivery of arms and funding to support the operations of the “volunteers” recruited by the authorities to reinforce the work of the Army against terrorist groups and rejected criticism from Paris for a possible request for help. to Russia. “The Burkinabe are looking for a lifeline for their country. If this lifeline should come from a country other than France, why not?” he wondered.
On the other hand, the Burkinabe authorities last week summoned the Ghanaian ambassador in Ouagadougou, Boniface Gambila Adagbila, for an “urgent hearing” and called the head of his legation in Accra, Pingrenoma Zagré, for consultations, after Akufo-Addo affirmed from the United States that “there are Russian mercenaries on the northern border (of Ghana) and added that” Burkina Faso has reached an agreement to join Mali in using the forces of the Wagner Group.
Mali reached an agreement for the deployment of mercenaries from the Wagner Group, sparking Western criticism and leading to a troop withdrawal by France and other allies. The Wagner Group has also deployed troops in Libya, the Central African Republic (CAR) and Sudan, raising concerns in the West about the expansion of Russian influence on the continent.
Burkina Faso, ruled by a military junta since the January coup against then-president Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, has generally experienced a significant increase in insecurity since 2015. The junta is now headed by Ibrahim Traoré, who led a coup in September that was considered a “palace coup” by a sector in conflict with the until then leader, Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba.
The attacks, carried out by both the Al Qaeda affiliate and the Islamic State affiliate in the region, have also contributed to an increase in inter-communal violence and have caused self-defense groups to flourish, to which the Burkinabe government has added ‘volunteers ‘ to help in the fight against terrorism. The deterioration of security has caused a wave of internally displaced persons and refugees to other countries in the region.
