Burkina Faso summoned the Ghanaian ambassador on Friday to precise its “disapproval” after Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo mentioned that Ouagadougou had “made an association” with the Russian paramilitary group Wagner.
“The Minister Delegate in control of Regional Cooperation, Karamoko Jean Marie Traoré expressed the disapproval of the Burkinabè authorities in the direction of these declarations of the Head of State of Ghana”, signifies a press launch from the Ministry of International Affairs.
These statements are “critical and inaccurate”, added a authorities supply interviewed by AFP, who specified that the Burkinabè ambassador stationed in Accra has additionally been recalled for consultations. The knowledge was confirmed by a Ghanaian authorities supply.
On Wednesday, throughout an interview in the USA with the American Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, Ghanaian President Akufo-Addo assured that Burkina Faso had “concluded an association to, like Mali, make use of forces of Wagner”.
“I imagine {that a} mine within the south of Burkina was allotted to them as a type of fee for his or her companies” , he added, specifying that in line with him “the Russian mercenaries are on the northern border” of Ghana.
Throughout his assembly with the minister, the Ghanaian ambassador, Boniface Gambila Adagbila , assured that the phrases of his president “weren’t meant to sentence Burkina Faso, nor to sow doubt in folks’s minds”, in line with the account- minutes of the assembly, printed by the Burkinabè Ministry of International Affairs.
“The intention was above all to draw the eye of companions with a view to arouse nice curiosity in Burkina Faso”, added the ambassador, quoted within the press launch.
In response, Minister Traoré thought of that “Ghana might have undertaken exchanges with the Burkinabè authorities on the safety difficulty with a view to have the best info”.
In a number of French-speaking African international locations, Moscow is main an energetic marketing campaign of affect, notably on social networks and enjoys rising standard help when France, a former colonial energy, is more and more reviled there.
A number of international locations accuse the junta in energy in Mali of utilizing the companies of Wagner, reputed to be near the Moscow regime, which Bamako denies.
The query of a attainable rapprochement with Russia has additionally arisen in Burkina Faso because the September 30 coup, the second in eight months, which introduced Captain Ibrahim Traoré to energy, whereas the nation is struggling to manage. to recurrent lethal jihadist assaults since 2015.
On Monday, Burkinabe Prime Minister Apollinaire Kyélem de Tembela met in Moscow with Russian Deputy International Minister Mikhail Bogdanov to debate “precedence points for strengthening relations” between the 2 international locations, in line with an announcement from the Russian Ministry of International Affairs. overseas.
Requested about this journey, the Burkinabè authorities spokesman declined to remark. Mr. Kyélem de Tembela mentioned on the finish of October that he didn’t rule out re-examining his nation’s “relations” with Russia.
“We’ll strive, as a lot as attainable, to diversify our partnership relations till we discover the best formulation for the pursuits of Burkina Faso. However there can be no query of letting ourselves be dominated by a associate, whoever he’s”, had – he says mid-November.