Russia is a major ally of Burkina Faso in the fight against terrorists after the departure of French forces, declared the Burkinabe President of the transition who says he is “satisfied” with his military relations with Moscow. Turkey and North Korea are also states providing military aid to the African country.
“We have strategic allies. We have new collaborations. We have Russia, for example, which is a strategic ally. Luckily most of our major (military) assets are Russian. And we will continue to acquire major resources with Russia,” he said.
Cooperation with Russia in the military field “has existed for a long time, but we are developing it, going further,” he said.
“We are satisfied, because we manage to discuss what we are looking for in terms of resources, support and everything. It’s frank. ‘We’re going to sell you this at such a price’, if we don’t want it we say ‘no’. We have interests, and we always defend the interests of Burkina (…). Russia is an ally,” he argued.
What other allies?
Turkey and other states are also “major allies” of the African country, said Ibrahim Traoré.
North Korea is also an ally of Burkina Faso. Ouagadougou has the security challenge to take up and develop its economy, while North Korea “has a lot of capacity”, developed Ibrahim Traoré.
The Burkinabe army is still using weapons that North Korea donated in the 1980s, the President recalled.
“North Korean heavy weapons are currently in service with our army. We still want to acquire weapons there to fight. And there are many other areas where we can cooperate”.
In addition, the departure of French forces does not mean that France is not an ally of Burkina Faso, said Mr. Traoré.
“We have many allies, only the levels of cooperation differ”, summarized the head of the transition.
Burkina Faso, in particular its northern part, has been caught since 2015 in a spiral of violence attributed to terrorist groups. In April, the country’s authorities decreed a general mobilization for 12 months.
