Traoré points out that now there are “small operations” and stresses that “the war will begin in the days to come”
Jan. 18 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The leader of the Burkina Faso military junta, Ibrahim Traoré, has pointed to an expansion of anti-terrorist operations in the coming days and has announced that thousands of “volunteers” will be deployed on the ground starting in early February to combat the jihadist groups.
Traoré stressed during an act with students that the fight against terrorism is now focused on “small operations” and has stated that military capabilities are being strengthened. “The war will begin in the days to come,” she explained.
“The terrorists expect us to lose heart, but that will not happen. We have a morale of steel,” he pointed out. “I am convinced that if we decided to call a million men today, they would answer that they are willing,” she added, as reported by the Burkinabe news portal Burkina24.
Likewise, it has indicated that “some of the volunteers will complete their training at the end of January and will be deployed on the ground in February, with a view to helping to guarantee security in the territory”, while it has defended that these people need to be trained before to go into combat.
“We are equipping ourselves with between five and seven times more firepower than the terrorists. The issue of security is a matter of personnel and an issue of equipment that are being resolved,” he argued, as reported by the state agency Burkinabe News, AIB.
The Command of the Patriotic Surveillance and Defense Brigade affirmed in November that the campaign to recruit “volunteers” had resulted in more than 90,000 registrations, amid the deterioration of security in the country due to the expansion of jihadist networks.
The Burkinabe military authorities indicated when launching the recruitment process that the objective was to recruit 15,000 ‘volunteers’ at the national level and another 35,000 at the community level to fight against the jihadist groups.
Traoré has also made an appeal to the population to avoid hate speech and based on ethnic groups. “When they sense that we are going to win this fight, the ethnic issue suddenly appears. Don’t fall for their game. Less virulence, more tolerance,” he said.
On the other hand, he has confirmed that the board intends to review its relations with “certain states”, without giving further details and amid diplomatic tensions with France and an apparent rapprochement with Russia.
“Perhaps in the next few hours you will see a certain amount of information regarding the review of our relations with certain states. I am saying it here because we have to review many texts. We have already begun to review a certain number of texts on our sovereignty,” he said. .
“My biggest concern is that young people are on alert because the fight for sovereignty is a long-term fight that requires a lot of resistance. This fight for sovereignty is underway. We have started all the necessary processes for it,” he concluded. .
Burkina Faso has generally experienced a significant increase in insecurity since 2015, with attacks carried out by both the Al Qaeda affiliate and the Islamic State, which has caused a wave of internally displaced persons and refugees to other countries in the region.
