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View Full Version : Burkina Faso: a war where the enemy might be yesterday's trainees



davidbfpo
11-27-2018, 11:18 AM
All too often in the GWoT outsiders, often American, are drawn into a conflict as the enemy are jihadist terrorists and the linked article suggests that in Burkina Faso (previously Upper Volta) the enemy conducting bombings and ambushes are:
A few of the major attacks have been claimed by regional jihadi groups like Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, and Al Mourabitoun. Ansar Al Islam, a group founded by the late Burkinabé radical preacher Malam Ibrahim Dicko, has claimed others. But more than 90 percent of the attacks have not been claimed....that’s because a now-disbanded elite military unit that received training from the U.S. is suspected of being involved in the attacks against the country.

The insecurity that Burkina Faso is experiencing today appears to be proof that support for an elite unit that works for a corrupt dictator can lead to more terrorism and insecurity. This type of mistake is one of the hallmarks of the so-called war on terror and has been repeated, in various forms, in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Yemen, and numerous other countries.
Link:https://theintercept.com/2018/11/22/burkina-faso-us-relations/

It is remarkable that the author cannot find any evidence to support his claims and those made by local politicians.

Some background and a map:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burkina_Faso

AdamG
03-07-2019, 06:44 PM
A rapid and alarming deterioration of the security situation in Burkina Faso is threatening to spread to its three southern neighbours, a senior US military figure has warned, heralding the potential destabilisation of a vast area of west Africa.

The three coastal nations of Ghana, Togo and Benin were racing to “insulate or inoculate at-risk populations” to try to stop unrest, violence and criminality leaking through their northern borders, the head of Special Operations Command Africa said.

Speaking during Flintlock, the US military’s biggest annual exercise on the continent, Maj Gen Marcus Hicks said an “alarming deterioration” had taken place in Burkina Faso over the past five months.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/07/alarming-burkina-faso-unrest-threatens-west-african-stability

davidbfpo
04-23-2019, 07:41 PM
An update, again pessimistic:https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/apr/22/kalashnikovs-and-no-go-zones-east-burkina-faso-falls-to-militants?