Burkina Faso's coup president, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, said on Friday there was '
no severance of diplomatic relations
' with France and denied the presence of Wagner's Russian mercenaries. in his country.
While protests against France have taken place regularly in Burkina since he took power in September, Captain Traoré said his wish to see French special forces leave Ouagadougou had no bearing on relations. diplomatic with Paris.
“
The end of diplomatic agreements, no!
“, he declared in a televised interview granted to Burkinabè journalists.
“
There is no severance of diplomatic relations or hatred against any particular state
,” he added.
According to him, there was simply a break at Burkina's request for a military agreement on the presence of French special forces in Ouagadougou.
"
It's just a process that has been started and it has nothing to do with diplomacy
."
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"
The French Embassy is there (in Ouagadougou) the nationals are there, we have our embassy there (in Paris) so, diplomatically, nothing has been affected
", he remarked, without mentioning the strained relations with the French ambassador recalled to Paris "
for consultations
".
He also denied the presence of Russian mercenaries from the Wagner company in Burkina, plagued by jihadist violence since 2015 and where violence has increased in recent months.
"
We heard everywhere that Wagner is in Ouagadougou, I even asked some + oh well, where are they? +
", he said.
“
We have our Wagner, it is the VDP (Volunteers for the defense of the homeland, civilian auxiliaries of the army) that we recruit.
They are our Wagners
,” he stressed.
According to him, the rapprochement of Burkina with Russia is seen "
necessarily in a political way, but we are here for a mission, it is security, it is the primary mission
".
"
We really want to look at other horizons, because we want win-win partnerships
," he said, adding, "
We don't want partnerships that are not clear, a little fuzzy or unbalanced
."
“Sovereignty and Dignity”
He affirmed that “
all the people want is their sovereignty, to live with dignity
”.
"
It doesn't mean leaving one country for another
."
The partnerships sought by Captain Traoré are in particular of a military nature and “
if we cannot be allowed to acquire military equipment in such and such a country, we will go to other countries to acquire it
”.
We must “
allow us to be able to equip ourselves and wage war, because we are not going to sit down and watch our people die, never!
".
But if a country comes “
to colonize us, to dominate us, we will not agree
”.
Burkina Faso, the scene of two military coups in 2022, has been caught since 2015 in the spiral of jihadist violence that appeared in Mali a few years earlier and which has spread beyond its borders.
Attacks by groups linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State have left thousands dead and some two million displaced.
These groups occupy about 40% of Burkinabe territory.
Captain Ibrahim Traoré, transitional president resulting from a military coup on September 30, 2022 - the second in eight months - has set himself the objective of "
reclaiming the territory occupied by these hordes of terrorists
".
On Friday, he ruled out any negotiations with the jihadists.
“
We attack unarmed civilians, who are sitting quietly at home, or who are traveling (…) we arrest them and assassinate them.
How can you negotiate with people who do that?
According to him, "
Burkina is a sovereign country, a secular country and these values are not negotiated
".