Military-controlled Burkina Faso has suspended its pact with France and ordered its troops to withdraw within a month, state media reported.
Burkina Faso’s military junta has ordered French troops stationed in the West African country to withdraw within a month.
The decision announced on Saturday by the Burkina Intelligence Agency (AIB) is the latest sign of deteriorating relations between France and its former colonies since the second military coup last September.
The military junta on Wednesday suspended a 2018 military pact that allowed French troops to remain in the country, according to the AIB.
There was no immediate comment from Paris.
A source close to the Burkinabe military told AFP news agency that Ouagadougou had no intention of severing ties with France and that “the notice only concerns military cooperation agreements.”
France has about 400 Special Forces soldiers stationed in Burkina Faso to fight al Qaeda and groups affiliated with ISIL (ISIS).
The West African country is one of the world’s poorest, and the conflict that has spread from Mali to the Sahel over the past decade has killed thousands of civilians. Anti-French sentiment has soared in France in recent months amid the perception that France’s military presence has not improved the security situation.
Passamde Sawadogo, a prominent civil society activist and reggae singer, said, “Despite their presence with their enormous equipment and intelligence-level powers, they are unable to help us defeat terrorism. bottom.
“So it’s time for us to get rid of them, which the transitional government is doing very boldly,” he was quoted as telling the Associated Press.
Hundreds of Burkinaveans also held a rally in the capital Ouagadougou on Friday to demonstrate against France, demanding the deportation of the French envoy and the closure of military bases in Burkina Faso.
They held up giant posters depicting the leaders of Mali and Guinea, who came to power in a coup, and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Mohamed Sinon, one of the organizers of the demonstration, said the rally was called to show support for Burkinabe’s coup leader Col. He said he was.
“We are a pan-African movement and we want cooperation between Burkina Faso and Russia, but we also want stronger friendship and cooperation with Guinea and Mali,” he added.
Mali, also a former colony of Paris, ordered French troops to leave the country last year.
The last of the 2,400 French troops stationed there left in August after fighting al-Qaeda and ISIL-affiliated groups for nine years.
Many of them are now based in Niger and Chad instead.
Mali now employs Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group, who have been accused of widespread human rights abuses both inside and outside Mali.
