French influence in its one-time colony of Burkina Faso has deteriorated since
armed soldiers deposed the government in a coup last September and coup
supporters attacked the French embassy, believing it was harboring the deposed
president. Given widespread frustration over continued jihadist violence, on
January 21, the ruling’s junta government ordered the nearly 400 French troops
in the country—vestiges of a multinational force intended to combat violent
extremists—to evacuate within the coming month.





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Burkina Faso Orders French Troops To Evacuate As Junta Allegedly Pursues
Mercenary Force To Combat Jihadist Violence



(New York, N.Y.) — French influence in its one-time colony of Burkina Faso
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has deteriorated since armed soldiers deposed the government in a coup last
September and coup supporters attacked the French embassy, believing it was
harboring the deposed president. Given widespread frustration over continued
jihadist violence, on January 21, the ruling’s junta governmentordered
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the nearly 400 French troops in the country—vestiges of a multinational force
intended to combat violent extremists—to evacuate within the coming month. ISIS
and al-Qaeda affiliateJamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen
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been active in the country since 2015. On January 25, the French foreign
ministryconfirmed
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that they would comply with the notice and that their troops would withdraw
from the West African nation by the designated deadline.



“Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State continue to grow unabated in wide swaths of
Africa,” said Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler, senior director of the Counter
Extremism Project (CEP) and former coordinator of the U.N. Security Council’s
ISIL (Da’esh), al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Monitoring Team. “While some
thought that extremists in Iraq and Syria were sustainably defeated, itself a
questionable assumption, Burkina Faso, along with Mali, Nigeria, Somalia, and
Benin have fallen subject to increased extremist and terrorist activity. Weak
government and chaos are always conducive to terrorism. Mercenary forces,
famous for their brutality coupled with serious and systematic human rights
violations, are not a replacement for the rule of law and effective governance
and are very likely exacerbating the already very volatile situation in Burkina
Faso and the broader region.”



In December 2022, press reports indicated
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that the military junta in Burkina Faso had concluded an agreement with the
Wagner Group, a mercenary force linked to Russia, to counter jihadists threats
in exchange for a mine. Although Burkina Fasodenied
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allegations of the transaction, the mercenary group has deployed troops in
neighboring Mali. The White Houseannounced
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last week its intention to designate the Wagner Group as a “significant
transnational criminal organization” and charged it with “committing widespread
atrocities and human rights abuses” and receiving rockets and missiles from
North Korea.



The Wagner Group has been repeatedly accused of giving Russia control over
mineral resources in areas where they operate. Additionally, a 2021 U.N. report
accessed by theNew York Times found
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that Russian mercenaries and allied government troops committed
“indiscriminate killings, occupation of schools and looting.” According to
scholars on the Sahel region, while Wagner will provide training to local
forces and offer security services to senior officials in partner countries,
Wagner will also spread Russian influence across the continent.



To read CEP’s resource Burkina Faso: Extremism and Terrorism, please click here

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