France is "
determined to continue to support
" Burkina Faso in the grip of an unprecedented increase in more than five years of jihadist violence, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in Ouagadougou on Friday.
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"
France is determined to continue to support Burkina Faso in the field of security and in its economic and social development policy
", declared Mr. Le Drian after a "
long meeting
" with the Burkinabe President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré.
The minister said he was in Ouagadougou for a “
support visit
” after the re-election in November of President Kaboré who is starting his second term.
Burkina Faso is, with Mali and Niger, one of the countries most affected by jihadism and violence in a conflict in the Sahel that has continued to spread since its beginnings in 2012 in northern Mali.
At the beginning of 2020, following a series of attacks as numerous as they were deadly against military camps in the three countries in the region known as the “
three borders
” between Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, France and the Sahelian countries had decided together in Pau to '' accentuate their action.
"
We have achieved success in the three border area,
" said Le Drian a year later, adding that "
we will have the opportunity soon with the G5 Sahel countries (Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Chad, editor's note) and international partners to consider following up on the commitments we made in Pau
”.
A summit is scheduled for N'Djamena in Chad in February.
France has been present in the Sahel since 2013. It now has 5,100 soldiers engaged, but is currently examining the evolution of this engagement.
At the end of December, five French soldiers died in the explosion of two artisanal mines a few days apart, bringing the number of French soldiers killed in the region to 50.