Burkina Faso has decided to repatriate fourteen military trainees in training in Ivory Coast, according to a note from the general staff of the Burkinabe army consulted Thursday by AFP, a new sign of tensions between the two neighboring countries.
Burkinabè military trainees” in training in “Republic of Côte d’Ivoire (…) will be on their way to Burkina Faso”, indicates a note from the chief of staff of the Burkinabè armed forces, Colonel Major Célestin Simporé.
Attached to this message, dated October 24, is the list of names of fourteen Burkinabè trainees, all students between the sixth and final years of the Military Preparatory Technical School (EMPT) in Bingerville, a town near Abidjan.
These students will continue their training at the Kamboinsin military academy (PMK), near Ouagadougou,” writes Colonel-Major Simporé.
This repatriation marks a new episode of tensions between Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast.
On September 19, two Ivorian gendarmes were arrested on Burkina Faso territory, while they were on an illegal gold panning site. Since then, discussions have been underway between Abidjan and Ouagadougou for their release.
Furthermore, the two countries are negotiating the demarcation of the 600 km border which separates them, difficult to establish because it is not physically demarcated.
This situation could explain the arrests of members of the Ivorian defense and security forces at the border between the two countries.
Last March, three Ivorian police officers were arrested in Burkina Faso, before being quickly released.
Interviewed on national television at the end of September, the transitional president of Burkina Faso, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, who came to power through a coup d’état on September 30, 2022, assured that “there are no problems” between “the Burkinabè and Ivorian peoples”.
Source: MSN