Protesters in Burkina Faso demand the French Army to speed up its withdrawal from the country

MADRID, 6 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Hundreds of people have demonstrated this Sunday in front of the French military base of Kamboinsin to demand their departure from Burkinabé territory.

"The French soldiers are resigned to leaving. But what the hell does (French President Emmanuel) Macron want?" Ramdé, secretary general of the pan-African leaders' group, declared, before calling for "accelerating the departure without delay of the French soldiers", as reported by the Koaci news portal.

"We went out to tell President Macron to call his soldiers without delay to preserve the fraternal relations that have always characterized the French and Burkinabe peoples (...) His stubbornness in staying in our country against the popular will will inevitably bring consequences unfortunate," he said.

Likewise, the group of pan-African leaders has condemned the attitude of the Economic Community of West African States (Cedeao), considering that it is "out of step with the new winds of independence and sovereignty that are blowing on the African continent".

"While Burkina Faso and Mali suffer the horrors of terrorism and imperialist attacks, ECOWAS has found nothing better to do than want to isolate and starve the peoples of these countries who ask for nothing more than to live in peace," he said. explained Ramde.

Burkina Faso's military junta gave one month for the withdrawal from the country of all military personnel from the European country, after denouncing a military assistance agreement signed in 1961 between the two countries, during the French colonial period.

The breakdown of the 1961 agreement, which allowed France to provide financial, military and training support to the Burkinabé army, which included the presence of military instructors, has come at a time of tension between the junta and the French authorities.

The French military operation in Burkina Faso officially concluded on February 19 after the termination of the agreement signed between the two countries for the fight against jihadism in the Sahel, amid a distancing from the Paris junta and a rapprochement with Moscow.

Burkina Faso is led by Ibrahim Traoré, who led a coup in September that was considered a "palace coup" against the until then leader, Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba. Deteriorating security on its territory has worsened due to attacks by both al Qaeda and Islamic State affiliates in the region, inter-communal violence and self-defense groups.