Burkina Faso's government spokesman confirmed Monday (January 23rd) that authorities in Ouagadougou had requested the departure of French troops based in the country within a month.
“
What we denounce is the agreement that allows French forces to be present in Burkina Faso.
It is not about the end of diplomatic relations between Burkina Faso and France
,” said Jean-Emmanuel Ouedraogo, in an interview on Radio-Television du Burkina (RTB).
French forces are based in Ouagadougou at the request of Burkina Faso and its authorities.
This denunciation is in the normal order of things, it is provided for in the terms of the military agreement", he continued, indicating that the denunciation of the agreements left "
one month to the other party to access this request
".
Burkina currently hosts a contingent of nearly 400 French special forces, the Saber force.
Clarifications expected
In a letter from the Burkinabè Ministry of Foreign Affairs addressed to Paris and dated Wednesday January 18, of which AFP had a copy, Ouagadougou “
denounces and puts an end in its entirety to the agreement
” of December 17, 2018 “
relating to the status of the French armed forces intervening
" in the Sahelian country.
Sunday afternoon, French President Emmanuel Macron said he was waiting for “
clarifications
” from Burkina Faso on a possible request for the departure of French troops.
In the evening, the French presidency had indicated that it was waiting for confirmation of the Burkinabe position at the “
highest level
”.
Read also“Barkhane has finally degraded the image of France in the Sahel”
"
At the current stage we do not see how to make it any clearer than that
," said Jean-Emmanuel Ouédraogo on Monday.
For him, this request for the departure of the French forces "
is not linked to a particular event
".
"
It is linked to the desire today, of the authorities of the transition and of all Burkinabè, to be the primary actors in the reconquest of our territory
", he added.
Taking charge of the reconquest of the territory
The transitional president, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, who came to power in September thanks to a putsch, the second in eight months, has set himself
the objective of "reclaiming territory
" from jihadist groups.
Burkina Faso, particularly in its northern half, has been confronted since 2015 with increasing attacks by groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS) organization.
They left thousands dead and at least two million displaced.
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