Burkina Faso outraged by the Russian mercenary link

Burkina Faso’s military authorities have summoned Ghana’s ambassador over allegations it hired Russian mercenaries to help fight jihadists.

Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo said the Wagner Group’s presence in Burkina Faso was “sad”.

Burkina Faso is struggling to contain Islamist militants who are active in many parts of the country.

Neighboring Mali faces a similar challenge and is already widely believed to be working with Wagner.

Since Captain Ibrahim Traoré seized power in Burkina Faso in September, there has been widespread speculation that he might follow suit and start working for Russian mercenaries.

Both countries have already severed longstanding security ties with France, the former colonial power.

While visiting Ghana, British Development and African Affairs Minister Andrew Mitchell said Britain was concerned about the activities of Russian mercenaries in West Africa.

Mitchell told the BBC that the Russian presence in the region was “neither constructive nor useful”.

Captain Traore promised to take back the territory from the jihadists, and to hold democratic elections in July 2024.

His government also summoned Burkina Faso’s ambassador to Accra for “consultations” about comments made by the Ghanaian president.

President Akufo-Addo, speaking on the sidelines of the US-Africa Summit in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, said Ghana’s northern neighbor had struck a deal with the mercenary group.

“Today, there are Russian mercenaries on our northern border. Burkina Faso has now entered into an arrangement to go along with Mali in using Wagner forces there,” he said.

He also said Burkina Faso had given up a mine, said to contain gold reserves, near the border with Ghana in exchange for the group’s services to deal with an armed rebellion that began in 2015.

In recent weeks, hundreds of people fleeing militant attacks in Burkina Faso have crossed the border into northern Ghana.

Story continues

So far, there has been no official confirmation of an agreement between the Wagner Group and Burkina Faso, despite Prime Minister Apollinaire Kelem’s recent visit to Russia.

Reports that Mali was working with Wagner fighters was one reason France pulled its troops out of the country in August — after nearly a decade of helping fight jihadist fighters in the country.

Details of any agreement between Mali and the mercenary group, which has been accused of committing atrocities in the country, including killing civilians, remain unclear.

Jihadist attacks continued in many regions of the country, despite the presence of Russian mercenaries, whom the military authorities in Mali described as trained.

Wagner also has fighters in Libya, the Central African Republic and Mozambique.

Additional reporting by Thomas Nadi in Ghana