The latest captain to run the country wants militias, censorship and army discipline to save the nation from the jihadists, and he doesn’t want help, Military junta leader Captain Ibrahim Traoré is setting out his programme for victory in the war against militant jihadists, who have taken 40% of the country, killed thousands and caused 2.5 million to flee. The jihadists are also using the country as a springboard for attacks on Burkina Faso s neighbours, most recently Togo and Benin.
The Algiers peace accord is in danger of unravelling as both Mali and Burkina Faso struggle under new challenges from the jihadists, While Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea talk of grand plans for diplomatic and economic cooperation, the already desperate Sahel security crisis has taken another turn for the worse.
Ouagadougou is set to be the next military regime to invite Russian mercenaries after giving France a month for its troops to leave, Captain Ibrahim Traoré s regime has brushed aside the concerns of fellow members of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) and gone even further than Mali and demanded the departure of French troops. At the end of January his government cancelled the 2018 defence agreement governing France s military presence in Burkina Faso, amid signs that it is now turning to Russia, probably the Wagner Group, for support.
Beset by jihadist insurgents, the juntas in Mali and Burkina Faso are shakier than Guinea – but none offer long-term answers to their countries problems, The military juntas running Mali, Guinea, and Burkina Faso – in place since August 2020, September 2021, and January 2022 respectively – are set, according to their own timetables, for transition to what the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) calls constitutional rule between mid-2024 and early 2025.
Rising hostility to Paris embarrasses regional governments as they seek French help to halt the southward spread of jihadist violence, It must have been with private relief that President Emmanuel Macron greeted England s 3-0 defeat of Senegal in the FIFA World Cup, thus sparing Les Bleus from a next-round clash with the Lions of Teranga on 10 December. Confrontation with an ex-African colony is the last thing the Elysée needs in the currently hot geopolitical climate.