Burkina Junta Chief Says He's Against French Policies, Not People

France withdrew troops from its former colony in the face of mounting hostility after Captain Ibrahim Traore seized power in September 2022.

"We are not the enemy of the French people, it's the policies of those governing France which is the problem in Africa," Traore said in an interview broadcast late Wednesday with the state channel RTB.

"As long as a state doesn't have an imperialistic mindset ... there's no problem," he said.

"We have to accept seeing each other as equals ... and accept an overhaul of our entire cooperation," he said.

Traore took aim at Burkina's past relationship with France.

"They brought in people to sign lots of agreements ... which prevent us from developing," he said, without elaborating.

"Imperialistic states are not limited to France — there are others," he added.

Traore also suggested that France had been ineffective in helping the Burkinabe army fight a long-running anti-jihadist insurgency.

"We have new partners who are supporting us in terms of equipment and other ways," he said, without identifying them.

Since the French pullout in January, Burkina has developed closer contacts with Russia, an ally of the junta in neighboring Mali.

Traore in July met Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Russia-Africa summit in Saint Petersburg, and last week held talks with a Russian delegation on development and military cooperation.

On Monday, his foreign minister, Olivia Rouamba, held talks in Tehran with President Ebrahim Raissi in which she said she hoped for "stronger bilateral cooperation" with Iran.

The impoverished landlocked country is in the grip of jihadist campaign launched from Mali in 2015.

More than 16,000 civilians, troops and police have died, according to an NGO monitor called the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, ACLED.

More than two million people have also been forced from their homes, creating one of Africa's worst crises of worst internal displacement.

Anger within the armed forces led to a coup on Jan. 24 2022, toppling elected President Roch Marc Christian Kabore.

On Sept. 30, Kabore's nemesis, Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, was himself overthrown by the 34-year-old Traore.