A Montreal-based lobbyist has promised the Burkina Faso government he will seek Israeli weapons and Saudi Arabian security cooperation for the besieged country
A new US$500,000 contract between a controversial Canadian lobbyist and the military regime that seized power in Burkina Faso is the latest sign of an increasingly desperate search for unconventional allies in the battle between Islamist insurgents and isolated West African governments after a series of recent coups.
He signed the new contract on July 18 with Burkina Faso coup leader Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, a lieutenant-colonel who orchestrated the military takeover in January and installed himself as president. The contract has been filed with a U.S. lobbyist registry. “I think Burkina Faso is looking for an effective way to deal with the terrorism crisis, which they have no solution for right now,” said Yvan Guichaoua, a Sahel region expert at the Brussels School of International Studies at the University of Kent.
The Wagner troops have been unable to halt the insurgent attacks, which have increasingly moved into new territory in southern Mali. Last week, insurgents launched an attack on Mali’s main military base, using car bombs to kill and injure several soldiers. Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Mali claimed responsibility for the attack - the first on a military camp so close to the capital, Bamako – and said it was retaliation for the recruitment of Russian mercenaries.
“The situation is totally different on the ground as Burkina Faso continues to struggle to contain the expansion of the insurgency. They simply don’t have the resources to face the insurgents, who are carrying out attacks in multiple areas.”
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