First modification:
France will respect the terms of Burkina Faso’s request to withdraw its forces from the West African country within a month, the French Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.
On Monday, Burkina Faso said it had decided to end a military agreement that allowed French troops to fight insurgents on its territory because the government wants the country to defend itself.
“On Tuesday, January 24, we formally received the denunciation, by the Burkinabe government, of the 2018 agreement regarding the status of the French forces present in this country,” the ministry said in a statement sent to the Reuters news agency.
“In accordance with the terms of the agreement, the denunciation takes effect one month after receipt of the written notice. We will abide by the terms of this agreement in response to this request.”
The West African country is facing an Islamist insurgency by groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State, which have seized vast tracts of land and displaced millions of people in the broader Sahel region, just south of the Sahara. .
Burkina Faso’s national television reported on Saturday that the government had suspended a 2018 military agreement with Paris on January 18, giving France a month to withdraw its troops.
The same path as Mali?
The country has followed a path similar to that of neighboring Mali, disengaging from Paris after a military coup brought a junta to power and the French presence became increasingly unpopular with the public.
The Burkinabe government has assured Paris that it will not follow Mali’s example by turning to Russia’s Wagner to back its army, although a liaison team from the mercenary group has already visited the country.
France maintains in Burkina some 200-400 members of its special forces. Last year it withdrew its forces from Mali after the country’s military junta reached an agreement with the private Russian group Wagner, made up of Russian army veterans and criminals (to choose between jail or fight), to operate in the country.
“This does not mean the end of diplomatic relations between Burkina Faso and France,” government spokesman Jean-Emmanuel Ouedraogo told RTV after the announcement.
*France 24 with AFP, Reuters; adapted from its original in English
