A little more than ten days after the ransacking of the French institutes of Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso, a visit was organized this Wednesday to the scene in the capital, with cultural actors. Artists and cultural operators were able to see the damage suffered by the French Institute during the demonstrations on October 1, the day of Captain Ibrahim Traoré’s coup.
Everything is upside down at the French Institute of Ouagadougou, after the passage of the demonstrators. “Be very careful not to hurt yourself,” warns the owner of the premises. Projection room, show, exhibition or media library… Everything has been ransacked. Thierry Bambara is the general manager of the institute. “The adult library, the bottom and the top were hit, the language center was ransacked, and at campus France, they set fire to all the files of the students who end up there. All the computers were taken away or burned. They ransacked the Petit Meliès, the cinema room. Director of a festival dedicated to string instruments, the artist Kantala wonders about holding this first edition in such a context. “We’ve been collaborating with the Institut français for years now, it’s become like our own home. We don’t know where to put ourselves. In any case, it’s a big blow.” The ransacking of the French Institute remains a big loss for cultural promoters. Salif Sanfo, president of the platform of cultural promoters: “I find it distressing, whether one is pro-Russian or anti-Russian, whether one is pro-French or anti-French. The Ccf was and is for Burkina Faso, a symbol. The Fespaco was born here. Ouaga hip-hop was born here, Jazz à Ouaga was born here. How many students have come here, to this library, to be able to do our studies and research. So I really think we are in the wrong fight.” Given the extent of the damage, artists and cultural promoters are wondering how long they will be deprived of this place of creation and cultural dissemination.
Rfi