Three protesters were injured by French soldiers in the town of Kaya in Burkina Faso on Saturday during the third day of a civilian blockade against a French military convoy en route to Niger, several protesters said.
Protesters are upset about the former colonial power’s involvement in the West African country’s five-year fight against extremists linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, which has left thousands dead and displaced more than 1.4 million people.
Several protestors in Kaya told reporters that the French soldiers tried to disperse the crowds by firing warning shots into the ground, but three people were hit in the legs.
Photo: Reuters
“Today they shot at us with heavy weapons. They first shot in the air and after they shot and wounded people. Is that normal?” protester Mahamadi Sawadogo said. “You’re in our country, even though you colonized Africans there are things you must not do.”
The blockade is the latest in a series of protests across the conflict-riddled nation that began in June and picked up last week after at least 50 gendarmes were killed in the Sahel’s Soum province, the deadliest single attack on the security forces in recent memory.
Earlier this month the opposition gave the president a one-month ultimatum to control security or it would organize protests to demand his resignation. A protest is scheduled for Wednesday.
While France has about 5,000 troops in the region, it has a more limited presence in Burkina Faso at the request of the government and that people are blaming the French for the degradation of security points to a kind of unrest and opposition that goes well beyond France’s actual involvement in the country, said Andrew Lebovich, a policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.
“It also shows how the ongoing and worsening insecurity is leading to fairly widespread discontent that is impacting the government, and is likely to get worse,” he said.
On Saturday evening, a few hundred protesters crowded in front of the blockade near the city’s entrance. The French convoy had pulled on to land off the main road, hidden from view, with one French armored personnel carrier near the side of the road.
Protesters said they would not allow them through until the French army lets people see what’s inside the trucks, with some people accusing them of arming the extremists.
The Burkinabe government said it was in close talks with the governor of the Center-North region and was closely following the situation, Burkinabe Minister of Communications Ousseni Tamboura said.
The French military and the French embassy in Burkina Faso did not respond to questions seeking comment.
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