BURKINA FASO KICKSTARTS NATIONAL DEFENCE INDUSTRY

In this video clip, Burkina Faso's prime minister, Jean Emmanuel Ouédraogo (@gouvernementBF on X), addressed President Ibrahim Traoré on developing a national defence industry to prevent former coloniser France and other Western powers from blocking arms imports into Burkina Faso.

Arms are needed for Burkina Faso's fight against t*rrorism, which surged following the 2011 NATO invasion of Libya.

On 11 July 2024, Traoré confirmed Western countries were blocking arms imports, adding, ‘It's going to stop. We're going to withdraw operating licences. You can't exploit our resources and refuse to sell us equipment and block our equipment.’

Years before Traoré came to power in a people-backed coup d’état that ousted a Western-aligned leader, Pan-Africanist and anti-imperialist activists in Burkina Faso and Mali accused France of blocking weapons imports from Russia. At the time, representatives from the Western-aligned governments of both countries had denied such claims.

Perhaps these Pan-Africanist voices were correct all along.

Video credit: @rtburkina

Sources

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PIWkEkn-7I

https://www.minute.bf/burkina-la-france-a-bel-et-bien-bloque-la-livraison-darmestribune

https://x.com/african_stream/status/1901505753719922943