France to back out from Burkina Faso with troops

France accepts the appeal to withdraw its troops from Burkina Faso’s land at the request of their military leader. Burkina Faso is at war with Islamist insurgency; they say that they only want to defend their country.

Currently, there are 400 French special forces in the country. One month is given to them to leave the country. On Thursday, France announced it would call its ambassador for future consultations. Burkina Faso’s junta asked for a new ambassador keeping in mind the country’s deteriorating security situation.

Last year French troops also backed up from Mali. They spent eight years in this country fighting jihadists. France has kept close relationships with many of its colonies in the past year. They also helped their colonies in the fight against jihadists.

Jihadists are active across the now-terminated Operation Barkhane. Nearly 3,000 French soldiers are still in West Africa, mostly in Chad and Niger. Their continuous economic ties with resentment of its influence. Now Russia has joined the game, and the Central African Republic and Mali are now working with the Russian mercenary group Wagner.

Burkina Faso denies reports that it will engage the Wagner Group against the jihadists. But a visit from a liaison team from the mercenaries says something different, according to the AFP news agency.

France foreign ministry spokesperson confirmed that the country itself asked the troops to leave with a written request. He said that they would honor the request and withdraw from the grounds immediately.

Burkina Faso is facing this calamity with a decade-long insurgency that forced nearly two million people to flee from their homes. In the most recent incident, suspected jihadists kidnapped around 60 women. They were searching for food north of the country when the incident occurred.

There are also reports of more than 28 bodies found shot dead in the north-western town of Nouna. Since Capt Ibrahim Traoré seized power in Burkina Faso a few months back. Since then, there has been widespread speculation of working with Russian mercenaries.

Credits: BBC