Russia will increase the number of military instructors in Burkina Faso, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday during a trip to the West African nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRussian instructors are working here, and their number will increase; at the same time, we are training members of the armed forces and law enforcement agencies of Burkina Faso in the Russian Federation,\u201d Lavrov said in the capital city of Ouagadougou. \u201cHere, Russian instructors are working; their number will increase.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Russia furthermore intends to supply Burkina Faso with military products to strengthen the country\u2019s defense capability, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Russia\u2019s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday\u00a0posted a photo of Lavrov in Ouagadougou, noting that he had been received by acting President Ibrahim Traor\u00e9. Lavrov was accompanied on the trip by Russian Deputy Defense Minister Yevkurov.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Burkina\u00a0Faso is\u00a0currently under military rule\u00a0after a junta staged a coup d\u2019\u00e9tat in July 2022. Its junta, headed by Traor\u00e9, has said it is prioritizing building up security\u00a0amid an ongoing and deadly internal conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Violence-related deaths in Burkina Faso doubled last year, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So far in 2024, hundreds of civilians have already been killed in attacks this year, including around 170 in three villages\u00a0in March,\u00a0and approximately 30 in separate mosque and church attacks\u00a0in February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Engulfed in violence, Burkina\u00a0Faso has been named the\u00a0world\u2019s most neglected displacement crisis\u00a0for the second year, by the NRC. In 2024, 6.3 million people in the country will need humanitarian assistance, the aid organization said, with over two million people internally displaced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
US officials have warned for years now that both Russia and China are working to build influence in Africa. In 2019, the former head of US Africa Command, Gen. Thomas Waldhauser also said that Russia was using mercenaries and arms sales to gain access to natural resources in Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Isolated from much of the world due to its invasion of Ukraine, Russia appears to be renewing overtures in the continent. In early March of this year, Africa Command again warned Congress that Russia was aggressively working to expand its footing in Africa, and that several countries were\u00a0\u201cat the tipping point\u201d\u00a0of falling under its influence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In his comments this week, Lavrov also thanked Burkinabe leaders for their \u201ceffective assistance in resolving issues that allowed us to resume the activities of our embassy in Ouagadougou.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are implementing a program to resume the activities of Russian diplomatic missions in Africa. Burkina Faso was the first country to do this quickly and effectively,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Russia will increase the number of military instructors in Burkina Faso, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday during a trip to the West African nation. \u201cRussian instructors are working here, and their number will increase; at the same time, we are training members of the armed forces and law enforcement agencies of Burkina Faso in the Russian […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39148,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,16,15],"tags":[7,26,25],"class_list":{"0":"post-39147","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-featured","8":"category-news","9":"category-politics","10":"tag-apie-project","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-politics"},"yoast_head":"\n