Tag: Burkina Faso

Macron announces billion-strong fund for African SMEs

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AFP) — France is setting up a billion-euro ($1.2 billion) fund for small- and medium-sized African businesses, President Emmanuel Macron announced Tuesday. Macron, visiting Burkina Faso at the start of his first African tour, said the money could be used to help firms maximise value from agriculture, but also the digital sector. The money will be provided by the France’s Public Investment Bank, which offers firms tailored funding, and the French Development Agency. Macron […]

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Pentagon looks at stepped-up Africa role to counter IS

by Sylvie Lanteaume Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) – The United States is considering a stepped-up military presence in Africa to pursue Islamic State group jihadists looking for new havens after the fall of their “caliphate,” American officials say. After IS lost its de facto capital Raqa in Syria this month, and its Iraqi stronghold of Mosul earlier, the group “has aspirations to establish a larger presence” in Africa, the US military’s top officer General Joseph […]

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17 dead in Burkina Faso restaurant attack: government

  OUGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AFP) — Seventeen people have been killed in a suspected jihadist attack on a restaurant in Burkina Faso’s capital Ouagadougou, the government said Monday. “The attack claimed 17 victims, their nationalities are yet to be confirmed, and eight injured,” according to a government statement, a copy of which was sent to AFP.

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Security forces battle Islamist gunmen holding hostages in hotel

(Reuters) — Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) said on Friday (January 15) it was responsible for an ongoing attack on a hotel in Burkina Faso’s capital of Ouagadougou, SITE Intelligence Group reported. A senior member of the ultra hardline group had called in December for Muslims in several countries, including Burkina Faso, to wage jihad. AQIM, along with two other groups, also claimed responsibility for killing 20 people and taking hostages in the […]

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Burkina Faso army backs presidential guard officer to lead transition

(Reuters) – Burkina Faso’s military backed a presidential guard officer on Saturday to lead a transitional government after the resignation of President Blaise Compaore, resolving a power struggle within the armed forces by sidelining the chief of staff. Senior military officials had held talks on Saturday aimed at averting bloodshed after Lieutenant Colonel Isaac Zida declared himself head of state in an early morning radio address, overruling military chief General Honore Traore’s claim to lead […]

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