The operation of the Burkinabe forces assisted by French units of “Barkhane” took place shortly before the coup of January 24th.
Le Monde with AFP
About sixty jihadists were killed in northern Burkina Faso during an operation of the Burkinabe forces assisted by French units of the operation “Barkhane”, shortly before the coup of January 24 during which President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré was overthrown, announced Sunday 30 January the French army.
“has four times, between the 16th and 23rd of January, 2022, different groups of terrorists have been located, identified and neutralized by the Burkinabe forces and by the units of” Barkhane “, have we learned from The staff. “In total, nearly about sixty terrorists were put out of action,” according to the staff of the French army.
Twenty motorcycles and several armed pickups were also destroyed in these punctuated operations of “Barkhane” aerial strikes “, guided by Burkinabe units,” explains the staff of the armies in a statement .
“The goal was to seek the terrorists in their refuge zones,” commented the French staff, before adding that “the balance sheet is very very good”. “We continue the fight against the terrorists in coordination with the partners, the Burkinabe armed forces, which led these operations” at the end “very positive”, have we continued.
A spiral Violence
According to the army, the Burkinabe forces will thus be able to “return” in these “transit zones” of the jihadist groups in which they had not operated for a long time “.
These military successes have intervened just before a military coup on 24 January, during which President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré has been placed in supervised residence and other managers arrested.
Thursday night 27 January, in his first speech since his taking Monday, the new strong man of Burkina, Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, had declared national television that his country had “more than ever need its partners “.
saying to understand the “legitimate doubts” aroused by the coup, he had assured that Burkina “[would continue] to respect international commitments, particularly with respect to respect for human rights,” and specified that the independence of justice would also be “assured”.
The population reproached Roch Marc Christian Kaboré not having managed to stem safe degradation since 2015, particularly in the north and east of the country.
In the wake of Mali and Niger, Burkina Faso is caught in a spiral of violence attributed to Jihadist armed groups, affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group, which have made more than 2,000 dead and forced. At least 1.5 million people to flee their homes.