The Burkina Faso army received, on Monday April 8, a dozen combat drones delivered by Turkey in order to fight against jihadist groups, according to the Burkinabe presidency. These drones – Bayraktar TB2 and Bayraktar Akinci – were handed over to the army by the head of the military regime, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, during a ceremony filmed and broadcast by the presidency.
“All the tests were conclusive, so it is a source of pride to confirm that these aircraft are joining the Burkinabé army fleet,” assured Captain Traoré in the presence of the Minister of Defense, General Kassoum Coulibaly. The TB2 has “proven itself since the start of this war,” said Mr. Traoré, adding that the Akinci drone had “surpassed the technical capabilities planned by the manufacturer.” “The expansion of the fleet therefore makes it possible to intervene in a timely manner” and to carry out “permanent surveillance,” he explained.
“We have a multitude of machines of this type currently in the sky, which are scanning, which are searching to find and destroy any enemy thanks to the contributions of the populations,” declared General Coulibaly.
The head of the Burkinabe military regime thanked Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for this “healthy and sincere” partnership. After turning its back on the French army last year, Burkina Faso has moved closer to new partners, including Turkey and Russia. Since 2015, the country has been confronted with jihadist violence attributed to groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, as well as reprisals attributed to the armed forces and their auxiliaries. This violence left some 20,000 dead and 2 million displaced.
