One day after the government of Burkina Faso proclaimed the official withdrawal of the French Task Force’s operations in the country, citizens react to the departure of the former colonial power.
The departure marks another significant step in the scaling-down of France’s military presence in the region, often affected by jihadist violence.
It’s good because France has regarded the rules of the game. That’s to say, there was a contract that bound us, I believe, and Burkina decided that the contract was no longer handy, so they tried to denounce it. In relation to this, France understood, there was no debate, so it’s fine”, said Amado Ouédraogo, craftsman and chairman of the association of bronze platform craftsmen.
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Student Patrice Sawadogo added”, when you’re in a country and the population itself demands your departure, it’s well and truly to regard the instructions given by the population. So I think that the departure of the French army is actually good”.
Burkina Faso wanted a president like IB( Ibrahim Traoré, Ed.) and we got him. So I know that he’ll be suitable to do what we want”, concluded trader Issouf Zoungrana. Burkina Faso has been rocked by a jihadist insurgence that spilled over from neighbouring Mali in 2015.
Last year Burkina Faso suffered two military coups.