Thousands of protesters rallied in the Burkina Faso capital Ouagadougou on Saturday in support of the ruling junta, days after France confirmed its special forces would withdraw there, according to an AFP journalist at the rally.
Filling the Nation Square in central Ouagadougou, protesters carried banners with slogans such as “Down with imperialism”, “Down with French policy in Africa” and “Forward for the sovereignty of Burkina Faso”.
“We don’t want any more foreign military bases on our soil,” Lazare Yameogo, a spokesman for the Inter-African Revolutionary Movement, told the crowd. “We want respect and a win-win cooperation.
“We will remain vigilant until Burkina Faso is liberated from Western imperialism,” he added.
Former colonial power France has special forces based in Ouagadougou, but their presence has come under intense scrutiny as anti-French sentiment grows in the region.
Paris confirmed this week that the troops, deployed to help fight a years-old jihadist insurgency, would leave within a month.
Anger within the armed forces over the government’s failure to stop the insurgency, which has raged since 2015, fueled two coups in Burkina Faso last year.
Violence by insurgents linked to al Qaeda and the Islamic State group has killed thousands of people and forced an estimated 2 million more to flee their homes.
The junta’s leader, Captain Ibrahim Traore, was acting in defense of the sovereignty of the West African state and “an army powerful enough to fight the jihadists,” said Alassane Kouanda, head of an association backing the transition. planned to a civil government.
Some observers say the Burkina Faso government’s request that France withdraw its troops is reminiscent of the ideals of the former president, the left-wing anti-colonial hero Thomas Sankara.
A coalition of organizations supporting Sankara’s ideas welcomed “the complete liberation of our country from the yoke of Francafrique, imperialism and deadly capitalism,” using a term to describe French influence in its former African colonies.
Mahamadou Sawadogo, head of the Burkina-Russia association, said during Saturday’s protest that there were “other opportunities for cooperation” in the fight against jihadists, particularly from Moscow.
On Saturday, some protesters carried Russian flags and giant posters of the leaders of Mali and Guinea, West African neighbors that, like Burkina Faso, are ruled by military juntas after coups.
Monique Yeli Kam, a former presidential candidate and a leading figure in the anti-France movement, told AFP that Burkina Faso’s turn to Moscow and the Russian Wagner paramilitary group was “also a form of sovereignty.”
“The old powers tend to treat us like children saying we don’t know how to choose,” but Burkina is now independent and can act freely “according to our interests,” he said.
Turning its back on France in favor of Russia in the anti-jihadist fight has not convinced all Burkinabe citizens.
“We demand the departure of the French soldiers. Now that it is done, we must not let other imperialists in,” said Ibrahim Sanou, a 28-year-old shop worker. “It is up to us to take full responsibility because the fight for true independence in Burkina Faso starts now.”
The official Desire Sanou added: “We must be ready to resist and free the country from these hordes of terrorists. We don’t even need Wagner or other forces.”
