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Burkinabè Prime Minister Apollinaire Joachim Kyelem de Tambela met on November 29 for the first time since his installation as Prime Minister, French Ambassador Luc Hallade, to take stock of cooperation between the two countries. Despite the attacks suffered by the French embassy and institutes, France ” do not abandon Burkina Faso which is going through a difficult period according to Luc Hallade.
With our correspondent in Ougadougou, Yaya Boudani
Despite the attacks against its embassy in Ouagadougou and which have traumatized his compatriots, the ambassador Luc Hallades, reassures that France always remains ” the first bilateral partner of Burkina Faso » :
« We have over 100 million euros of commitment per year, in particular through the French Development Agency. So we are not going to give up all that because we have suffered attacks. Obviously, if they were to renewthis would become worrying, but we are counting on the protection of the Burkinabè authorities to prevent this from happening again. »
On the security front, French special forces will lead the fight against terrorism alongside their Burkinabè counterparts. Meetings are underway with the various staffs for the new articulation of military cooperation after the end of Operation Barkhane, according to the French ambassador in Ouagadougou:
« Our special forces will stay here as long as the Burkinabè authorities wish, but in an adapted format, more restricted certainly, with greater interweaving with the Burkinabè special forces. So all this is under discussion, in negotiation, we will obviously respond to the demands of the Burkinabè authorities, but of course we will continue there too. And we will continue because it is necessary. So as long as the Burkinabè authorities wish and to the extent that they wish, we will make sure to be able to respond. »
Cooperation in line with the needs of Ouagadougou
The French diplomat stresses that the dialogue will continue in order to remove ambiguities and misunderstandings, so that cooperation is more effective, and above all that it meets the needs of the Burkinabè government.
Following the meeting, the French diplomat also stressed that ” it was a very rich, very deep dialogue without jargon, with reproaches and even criticisms from the Burkinabè head of government ».
Before the French ambassador, the head of the Burkinabè government also received the special representative of the European Union for the Sahel: Emanuela Claudia Del Re said that she had come to find out about the strategy put in place by the new authorities to respond to the enormous problem of terrorism. It confirms the maintenance of European aid to Burkina Faso despite the conflict in Ukraine.
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