The beginning of June was marked by a tour of Africa by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The trip included meetings with several African leaders, including the President of Burkina Faso’s transition, Ibrahim Traoré, with whom they agreed on Wednesday June 05 to strengthen military cooperation between the two countries by increasing the number of Russian instructors to train Burkina Faso specialists.
“We are going to increase the number of instructors working here and helping you train your specialists,” Lavrov said at a joint press conference with his Burkinabe counterpart on June 5, 2024 in Ouagadougou.
As a reminder, on January 24, 2024, the first military instructors from Africa Corps, a structure of the Russian Ministry of Defense, arrived in Burkina Faso.
This increase in the number of Russian specialists is due to the fact that Burkina Faso has been facing violence from armed men for almost ten years, resulting in the deaths of thousands of people and over 2 million internally displaced persons. “I have no doubt that, thanks to this cooperation, the remaining pockets of terrorism in Burkina Faso will be destroyed”, reassured Mr. Lavrov.
It should be noted that all countries of Alliance of Sahel States are developing fruitful defense cooperation with Russia. Speaking of Niger, where an Africa Corps unit has also been deployed since April, a few days ago, on June 2, the President of the National council for the protection of the homeland (CNSP) and Head of State of Niger received a high-ranking Russian delegation led by Colonel-General Younous-Bek Evkourov, Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation. The visit took place within the framework of military cooperation between the two countries.
The meeting between President Tchiani of Niger and the Russian Deputy Defense Minister ended with a discussion on the prospects for solid bilateral cooperation in a number of areas, notably security, defense and economic development. The two sides reaffirmed their shared desire to consolidate the strategic partnership, based on mutual respect, trust and the search for concerted solutions to regional and international challenges.
It is also worth noting that, according to information from military sources, joint exercises by the Russian Africa Corps and the Niger Armed Forces are planned on the border between Benin and Niger to secure the area of the W National Park in Niger. This is an area threatened by the filtration of armed groups from Benin, where they are trained by French forces stationed in the northern part of the country, in Kandi to be precise.
This rapprochement with Russia will enable the countries of the Sahel region, victims of jihadism, to strengthen their defense capability and their long-sought military arsenal.
In the fight against terrorism, Burkina Faso and Niger must continue their respective and promising cooperation with Russia, which will contribute to the stability of the region, which is coveted by financed and well-equipped armed men.
