Malian PM Calls on Burkina Faso Not to Rely on Foreign Troops to Fight Terrorists

Mali’s Prime Minister Choguel Maiga arrived in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, on Thursday for a three-day visit. He met with the country's Prime Minister Apollinaire Kyélem de Tambela, as well as with the military and political leader, Ibrahim Traore, with whom he discussed security and bilateral cooperation.

Terrorist groups in Mali and Burkina Faso should not be fought by foreign militaries, according to Malian Prime Minister Choguel Kokalla Maiga.

"To win the war, it is with our armies. No foreign army, it must be clear, no one will come to die for us. It is the Africans who must defend ourselves, but in order for us to defend ourselves, the army must be sure that their people are with them, that they will never die for nothing," the prime minister stressed.

Maiga's statement follows an attack in northern Burkina on Wednesday in which at least 12 army auxiliary members of the Volunteers for the Defense of the Fatherland force were killed. A few days prior, two other strikes in the north, close to Mali, resulted in the deaths of 70 soldiers.

On Friday, local authorities in central Mali said that at least 13 civilians had been killed in a jihadist attack on Kani-Bonzon town not far from the border with northern Burkina Faso.

“What is happening to you today is to demoralize you. It is so that you doubt your army,” Maiga said, since the jihadist groups operating in the country put “the pressure so that you doubt yourselves, [and] we found the same things in Mali.”

He added that the current situation is "difficult," since the Burkinabe leadership has "made choices today that are not to everyone’s liking, so they are putting pressure on you, they are sowing doubt and it is at this moment that I believe like all great peoples, the people of Burkina Faso must stand as one."

Captain Ibrahim Traore, who took control of Burkina Faso following a coup in September 2022, ordered the French special troops to leave the nation after denouncing the bilateral military agreements in mid-January. Following the decision, France recalled its envoy to Burkina Faso for "consultations." Traore, however, noted later that diplomatic relations with Paris were not severed.

Earlier this month, Burkina Faso's Prime Minister Tambela stated that Ouagadougou is looking to create a federation with Mali in order to pool resources in addressing the shared problems the two countries face and increase their economic potential.

According to a recent UN study, armed groups in the country's center are still taking advantage of intercommunity tensions to grow their influence and attract new members.