The military junta denounces the existence of an “international coalition” against Burkina Faso

May 4. (EUROPE PRESS) –

Burkina Faso’s military junta has denounced the existence of an “international coalition” against the country and has warned that “the country is about to be set on fire” amid the upsurge in jihadist attacks.

The Burkinabe Defense Minister, Kassoum Coulibaly, has stated that “there is an international coalition against Burkina Faso”. “You have to understand this”, he stated, without specifying which countries would be part of this front, although relations between Burkina Faso and France have deteriorated in recent months.

Thus, he has asked the population to show unity to “save the homeland” and has argued that “if the house burns down, you have to lend a hand to fight the fire.” “Let’s save the country. Let’s be supportive. It’s a story about Burkina Faso, not about a person,” she stressed.

Coulibaly has once again denied that mercenaries from the Wagner Group, owned by Yevgeni Prighozin, an oligarch close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, are present, and has reiterated that the combat is being carried out by Burkinabe security forces.

“Many people think that it is the Russians who guide us. The Burkinabe are not children. Russia does not dictate any laws to us. Russia does not give us anything. We fight with contributions to the war efforts,” he stressed, according to the report. Burkinabe news portal LeFaso.

The Burkinabe authorities recently decreed a general mobilization to deal with the increase in jihadist attacks, the work of both the Al Qaeda affiliate and the Islamic State. The rise in insecurity has caused a wave of internally displaced persons and refugees to other countries in the region.

Burkina Faso, ruled by a military junta since a previous January 2022 coup against then-president Roch Marc Christian Kaboré. The junta is now headed by Ibrahim Traoré, who led a coup in September that was considered a “palace coup” against the until then leader, Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba.