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Burkina Faso wants French troops out: state news agency

Burkina Faso's military regime told France it wants its troops stationed in the country to leave within a month, the state news agency AIB reported on Saturday.

Burkina Faso wants French troops out: state news agency
Burkina Faso's leader Captain Ibrahim Traore in October 2022. Photo: Olympia DE MAISMONT/AFP

“The Burkinabe government last Wednesday denounced the accord which has governed, since 2018, the presence of French armed forces on its territory,” AIB said, adding that authorities had given France a month to complete its pull-out.

A source close to the government clarified it was “not the severance of relations with France. The notification only concerns military cooperation agreements”.

France has 400 special forces soldiers stationed in junta-ruled Burkina to battle an Islamist insurgency, but relations have deteriorated in recent months.

Sources familiar with the matter told AFP that France’s preferred option would be to redeploy its forces in the south of neighbouring Niger, where nearly 2,000 French soldiers are already stationed.

The military junta, led by Captain Ibrahim Traore, seized power last September in the second coup in the former French colony in eight months.

Traore’s regime has been seeking to rekindle ties with Russia since his coup.

French troops withdrew from Mali last year after a 2020 coup in the former French colony saw its rulers also inch closer to Russia.

Demonstrations

Demonstrators gathered in Burkina’s capital Ouagadougou on Friday to demand the French ambassador leave the country and that the French military base there be closed.

Several hundred flocked to a central square carrying placards with slogans such as “French army, get out”.

Mohamed Sinon, one of the main leaders of the collective that called the demonstration, said it was to show support for junta leader Traore and the security forces fighting jihadists.

“We are a pan-African movement and we want cooperation between Burkina Faso and Russia, but also the strengthening of friendship and of cooperation with Guinea and Mali,” he added.

Protesters carried huge posters showing the presidents of Mali and Guinea — both of whom also came to power in coups — as well as Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In October, anti-France demonstrators gathered outside the country’s embassy in Ouagadougou and the French cultural centre was attacked.

Another demonstration outside the embassy followed in November, and earlier this month, the French foreign ministry said the junta had asked it to replace ambassador Luc Hallade after he ruffled feathers with reports on Burkina’s worsening security situation.

‘Brother country’ Mali

Burkina Faso on Saturday thanked its northern neighbour Mali for its help in the recent rescue of 66 women, children and babies from suspected jihadists after a week of captivity.

Government spokesman Jean-Emmanuel Ouedraogo also told RTB state television that all of the 66 freed captives, who included 27 minors and four babies, were doing well.

“All arrangements have been made for them to regain serenity and after all that, we can consider their return to their respective families,” he added.

The captives were abducted by suspected jihadists in the northern Sahel region a little over a week ago.

During his televised interview, Ouedraogo paid tribute to “brother country” Mali, saying it had monitored their shared border “so as to be able to follow the trail of the kidnappers and the women”.

Both countries are fighting a long-running jihadist insurgency that has claimed thousands of lives and forced millions to flee their homes.

Earlier Saturday, several hundred people demonstrated in two major northern towns, Djibo and Kongoussi, both of which have been subjected to jihadist raids and a blockade that has made it increasingly difficult for them to receive supplies.

The demonstrators called for fresh supplies and thanked security forces for rescuing the women.

The demonstrations came just two days after a series of attacks across the north of the country claimed the lives of around 30 people, half of whom were members of an auxiliary force supporting the army.

Traore said in December that his aim was to “recapture the territory occupied by the hordes of terrorists”.

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POLITICS

Macron warns of ‘civil war’ if far right or hard left win election

President Emmanuel Macron warned that the policies of his far-right and hard-left opponents could lead to ‘civil war’, as France prepared for its most divisive election in decades.

Macron warns of ‘civil war’ if far right or hard left win election

French politics were plunged into turmoil when Macron called snap legislative elections after his centrist party was trounced by the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) in a European vote earlier this month.

Weekend polls suggested the RN would win 35-36 percent in the first round on Sunday, ahead of a left-wing alliance on 27-29.5 percent and Macron’s centrists in third on 19.5-22 percent.

A second round of voting will follow on July 7th in constituencies where no candidate takes more than 50 percent in the first round.

Speaking on the podcast Generation Do It Yourself, Macron, 46, denounced both the RN as well as the hard-left France Unbowed party.

He said the far-right “divides and pushes towards civil war”, while the hard-left La France Insoumise, which is part of the Nouveau Front Populaire alliance, proposes “a form of communitarianism”, adding that “civil war follows on from that, too”.

Reacting to Macron’s comments, far-right leader Jordan Bardella told French news outlet M6: “A President of the Republic should not say that. I want to re-establish security for all French people.”

Bardella, the RN’s 28-year-old president, earlier Monday said his party was ready to govern as he pledged to curb immigration and tackle cost-of-living issues.

“In three words: we are ready,” Bardella told a news conference as he unveiled the RN’s programme.

READ ALSO What would a far-right prime minister mean for foreigners in France?

Bardella has urged voters to give the eurosceptic party an outright majority to allow it to implement its anti-immigration, law-and-order programme.

“Seven long years of Macronism has weakened the country,” he said, vowing to boost purchasing power, “restore order” and change the law to make it easier to deport foreigners convicted of crimes.

He reiterated plans to tighten borders and make it harder for children born in France to foreign parents to gain citizenship.

Bardella added that the RN would focus on “realistic” measures to curb inflation, primarily by cutting energy taxes.

He also promised a disciplinary ‘big bang’ in schools, including a ban on mobile phones and trialling the introduction of school uniforms, a proposal previously put forward by Macron.

Prime Minister Gabriel Attal of Macron’s Renaissance party poured scorn on the RN’s economic programme, telling Europe 1 radio the country was “headed straight for disaster” in the event of an RN victory.

On Tuesday, Attal will go head-to-head with Bardella and the leftist Manuel Bompard in a TV debate.

On foreign policy, Bardella said the RN opposed sending French troops and long-range missiles to Ukraine – as mooted by Macron – but would continue to provide logistical and material support.

He added that his party, which had close ties to Russia before its invasion of Ukraine, would be “extremely vigilant” in the face of Moscow’s attempts to interfere in French affairs.

Macron insisted that France would continue to support Ukraine over the long term as he met with NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg.

“We will continue to mobilise to respond to Ukraine’s immediate needs,” he said alongside Stoltenberg at the Elysee Palace.

The election is shaping up as a showdown between the RN and the leftist Nouveau Front Populaire, which is dominated by the hard-left La France Insoumise.

Bardella claimed the RN, which mainstream parties have in the past united to block, was now the “patriotic and republican” choice faced with what he alleged was the anti-Semitism of Mélenchon’s party.

La France Insoumise, which opposes Israel’s war in Gaza and refused to label the October 7th Hamas attacks as ‘terrorism’, denies the charges of anti-Semitism.

In calling an election in just three weeks Macron hoped to trip up his opponents and catch them unprepared.

But analysts have warned the move could backfire if the deeply unpopular president is forced to share power with a prime minister from an opposing party.

RN powerhouse Marine Le Pen, who is bidding to succeed Macron as president, has called on him to step aside if he loses control of parliament.

Macron has insisted he will not resign before the end of his second term in 2027 but has vowed to heed voters’ concerns.

Speaking on Monday, Macron once again defended his choice to call snap elections.

“It’s very hard. I’m aware of it, and a lot of people are angry with me,” he said on the podcast. “But I did it because there is nothing greater and fairer in a democracy than trust in the people.”

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