Burkina sees no break with Paris, denies Wagner presence

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (AFP):

Burkina Faso’s military leader has said that there has been no break in diplomatic relations with France, and denied that Russian Wagner mercenaries were in the country.

Former colonial power France had special forces based in Ouagadougou which  came under intense scrutiny as anti-French sentiment in the region grew. Paris recently withdrew its ambassador to Burkina over the junta’s demands.

“The end of diplomatic agreements, no!” Captain Ibrahim Traore said in a television interview with Burkinabe journalists. “There is no break in diplomatic relations or hatred against a particular state,” he added.

Traore went on to deny that there were mercenaries from the Russian Wagner Group deployed in Burkina Faso, even as the junta has nurtured ties with Moscow.

“We’ve heard everywhere that Wagner is in Ouagadougou… (this rumour) was created so that everybody would distance themselves from us,” he said.

Paris confirmed last month that the special forces troops, deployed to help fight a year-long insurgency by religious militant groups, would leave within a month.

It was anger within the military at the government’s failure to stem the insurgency that has raged since 2015 that fuelled two coups in Burkina Faso last year.

Violence by insurgent groups has killed thousands of people and forced around two million more to flee their homes.

A landlocked country lying in the heart of West Africa’s Sahel, Burkina Faso has lived under French colonial rule. France continues to stay involved in the region, leading to resentment against French interventionism and neoimperialism.

After the ruling junta in Mali forced French troops out last year, the army officers running neighbouring Burkina Faso followed suit, asking Paris to empty its garrison.

Under President Emmanuel Macron, France has drawn down its troops across the Sahel region from 5,000 to 3000 at present, backed up with fighter jets, helicopters and infantry fighting vehicles.