The President of the Transition, Head of State, Captain Ibrahim Traore, received in audience, on March 16, 2023, the Malian Minister of Defense, Colonel Sadio Camara, with a message from his Excellency Colonel Assimi GOÏTA, President of the Transition, Head of State of Mali, to his brother and friend, Captain Ibrahim TRAORE.
Mali and Burkina Faso reaffirmed their attachment to a strong and lasting alliance between the two countries. This trip follows the visit of Malian Prime Minister, Choguel Maïga, on February 23, 2023 to Ouagadougou where he and his delegation had talks with his counterpart, Apollinaire Kyelem de Tambela, and government ministers.
The busy schedule included delegations that discussed security and counter-terrorism, humanitarian aid, health, regional cooperation and sanctions.
The two countries are announcing joint military operations, because the common border is under strong terrorist pressure. These joint military operations between Mali and Burkina Faso are supposed to start in the coming months.
The Malian Minister of Defense also explained that the situation that Burkina Faso has been experiencing for several months is a situation that Mali has experienced in the past, and “today, Mali is ready to share the little experience, the few resources we have recently acquired”.
As a reminder, on August 15, 2022, France was pushed out by the transitional government in Bamako, the last soldiers of Operation Barkhane left Malian territory. A departure on the sly after 9 years on the spot to fight the armed jihadist groups, but according to the Malians, without any result. New affront for Paris: on January 24, 2023, the new Burkinabé government demanded the withdrawal within a month of the French special forces of Operation Saber stationed in Burkina Faso, who announced a total withdrawal from Ouagadougou marking the end of the operations of the French Saber force in Burkina Faso, after 15 years of mission in the country.
