France May Withdraw Its Special Military Forces From Burkina Faso's Capital: Report

PARIS (Sputnik) - France may withdraw its special military forces stationed at a base in the Burkinabe capital of Ouagadougou over stalled defense cooperation, a French newspaper reported on Saturday, citing sources.

The report said that France was reviewing the issue of future military cooperation with Burkina Faso, with the base in Ouagadougou, where the French military has been deployed since 2011, being on agenda of the discussions.

The newspaper reported that despite the increasing number of jihadist attacks, from which Burkina Faso has been seeking protection by deploying the French troops, both countries' cooperation on the defense agreement has come to a deadlock.

Meanwhile, the office of French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu has not confirmed the information in media reports that Paris made a decision to pull out the troops in February, 2023, saying that the French side has not decided on the matter yet, according to the report.

The report added that while the Kambuanse military base was one of the gathering places for demonstrators who supported the coup participants in late September 2022, the new Burkinabe authorities received proposals on changing the format and conditions of the military cooperation.

On Tuesday, the newspaper reported that Burkina Faso's military government had asked French Ambassador Luc Hallade to leave the country for allegedly asking his compatriots to move out of one of the Burkinabe cities due to security concerns.

Over the past year, Burkina Faso saw a number of political crises, with the two governments subsequently overthrown over the course of nine months.

In October, Ibrahim Traore was sworn in as head of the transitional government of Burkina Faso in front of the country's constitutional council.

In late September, media in Burkina Faso reported that Lt. Col. Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, the leader of an interim government who came to power through a coup earlier this year, was ousted by a group of military officers led by Traore in what became the second military takeover in the country in eight months. Damiba overthrew elected President Roch Marc Christian Kabore in January, 2022.