Burkina Faso booting French troops leaves Macron 'greatly confused'
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The French President says he awaits clarifications from the African country’s leadership.
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Soldiers of the French military mission in Mali fold a French flag at an undisclosed military installation during France’s withdrawal from the country on August 11, 2022 (AFP/Getty Images)
Following Burkina Faso’s decision to expel French troops from the country, France’s President Emmanuel Macron said he is “waiting for clarifications” from the West African country.
"We are waiting for clarifications on the part of Mr. [Ibrahim] Traore [head of the transitional government]," Macron told reporters on Sunday according to French Le Monde.
Read more: Mali's ex-colonizer, France, 'fully withdraws'
The French leader added that media reports on the remarks made by Burkina Faso caused “great confusion”.
Earlier last week, Burkina Faso notified Paris that the French army must leave the country within a month, the state news agency AIB reported.
"The Burkinabe government last Wednesday denounced the accord which has governed, since 2018, the presence of French armed forces on its territory," the agency added.
France has 400 special forces troops stationed in junta-ruled Burkina Faso to allegedly combat an Islamist insurgency, but ties have soured in recent months.
According to sources acquainted with the matter, France's preferred option would be to transfer its forces to the south of neighboring Niger, where approximately 2,000 French troops are currently stationed.
Read more: Germany to withdraw troops from Mali by the end of 2023
France has previously occupied the country and ruled it with an iron fist while still intervening in its internal affairs to this day, ruining the lives of many.
Earlier, on January 3, Burkina Faso's government asked the French Ambassador to leave the country after he asked his compatriots to move out of a city due to security concerns, French newspaper Le Monde reported, citing sources.
Popular demonstrations in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, on Friday, are the latest expression of growing anti-French sentiment across the West African country, as the occurrence of such protests increased recently.
Protesters chanted anti-France slogans and held banners calling on the French army to leave the country.
A protestor called and said, "We want to show France that we don't need it anymore."
Burkina Faso witnessed a number of political crises over the past year, with the two governments subsequently overthrown over the course of nine months.
The deterioration in the country's security situation has been used to justify the two coups in 2022. The first, in January, saw a military junta led by Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba overthrow elected President Roch Marc Christian Kabore.
The second, in September, saw Captain Ibrahim Traore come to power as he and his supporters ousted Damiba.
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