"Out with the white woman": Burkina Faso says enough in France and embraces Putin

Bobo-Dioulasso (Burkina Faso)"Out with the white woman, out with the white woman!" is the first thing I hear upon arriving at Tiéfo Amoro Square in the city of Bobo-Dioulasso, the epicenter of anti-French protests and demonstrations in support of the military junta that has ruled the country since the coup d'état of September 30, 2022. "IB! IB! IB! IB!" Ibrahim Traoré, the world's youngest president, has promised to restore peace to Burkina Faso, a West African country, by July 2024. An ambitious promise for a country that already has more than two million internally displaced people and 11,312 deaths since 2016, according to the organization Conglicte. in the hands of terrorist groups affiliated with Al Qaeda and the Islamic State that operate mainly in the northern and eastern regions of the country.

Burkinabe and Russian flags wave at the demonstration called by the Popular Movement in Support of the Transition (MPST), an organization made up of members of civil society with a presence throughout the country. Around three thousand people attend the rally under the slogan "The People's Decision" and wear T-shirts in support of the Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDP), a people's militia created by former President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré in 2020 to fight terrorism. However, it wasn't until Captain Traoré came to power that a mass recruitment of volunteers took place, with a response far exceeding expectations: while 50,000 new members were requested, up to 90,000 people of all ages signed up in just one month.

While the Burkinabe navy anthem plays, young people blow the vuvuzela loudly every time they see a sign with the image of the French president, Emmanuel Macron"We are not against the French people, but we are against the military occupying our territory," says one of the organizers of the demonstration. He adds: "Because I saw you with the old owl [referring to the person accompanying me]"If I hadn't come to throw you out."Old owl It is a way of referring to someone who has already experienced the struggle in the streets and who now looks at it from the outside and advises the younger ones.

The rally is not a coincidence; it was organized shortly after Burkinabe authorities publicly called for the withdrawal of French troops from their territory and the dismissal of the French ambassador, Luc Hallade. Specifically, They have given one month to the 400 soldiers of the French Sabre force, tasked with fighting terrorism in the Sahel, so that they withdraw from the country, thus breaking the agreement signed in 2018 that allowed France to deploy its military.

The role of the Wagner Group

For the population, waving the Russian flag is an anti-colonial and emancipatory act. "France wants to maintain a logic of servitude, domination, and submission that is unacceptable in the 21st century," one of the spokespeople for the MPST movement reads to the crowd. And while the former colony loses popularity, Russia and the Wagner Group appear as saviors in the face of the failed results of Operation Barkhane in the Sahel

The Wagner Group is a Russian private security company named after Richard Wagner, the composer most admired by Hitler. It originated in Ukraine in 2014 when its mercenaries were fighting with pro-Russian separatists in the Donbas region. They have participated in the Syrian war, are now also active in Ukraine, and have a presence in the Central African Republic and Mali, where in 2022 they had at least 1,400 men deployed. Now, the question is whether Wagner will also deploy to Burkina Faso, thus expanding its sphere of influence.

Guinean President Nana Akufo-Addo admitted during a visit to the United States that "Russian mercenaries are on the country's northern border. Burkina Faso has agreed to deploy Wagner forces, as in Mali." Burkinabe authorities considered these claims "serious and inaccurate," according to statements made to the AFP news agency.

The weight of Moscow

Although Burkina Faso has not severed diplomatic relations with the Élysée Palace—unlike Mali, which expelled its ambassador and banned French NGOs from its territory—movements are increasingly shifting towards a cooperation agreement that would involve Russia. Examples include the secret visit of Burkinabe Prime Minister Apollinaire Joachim Kyélem de Tambèla to Moscow in December, as revealed by the media outlet Jeune Afrique, or the meeting this week with his Malian counterpart, Choguel Kokalla Maïga, to form a common front against terrorism, or the interview with the Russian ambassador, Alexei Saltikov, on RTB (the public television)where he stated that "there are ninety Burkinabe military personnel in Moscow on a stay."

Meanwhile, in Bobo-Dioulasso, a Chinese flag flies at the entrance to a hospital under construction. The chairs at the rallyThey're from the Spanish beer Alhambra, and suddenly the song from the 2018 World Cup in Russia starts playing. old owl "He doesn't understand anything. In 2014 [when there was the popular uprising that overthrew the government of Blaise Campaoré] there was protest music playing, not this," he says while taking a sip of Brakina, the local beer and one of the most important companies in the country created under the motto "Proudly Burkinabe since 1960."