The captain of the French convoy looks back on his eventful crossing of Burkina Faso and Niger
The logistics convoy of the Barkhane force that left the port of Abidjan on November 14 took two weeks to arrive in Gao (illustrative image) © RFI / David Baché
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2 min
It will have taken fifteen days instead of a week to reach Gao.
The logistics convoy of the Barkhane force, which left the port of Abidjan on November 14th with a hundred vehicles, arrived this Sunday, November 28th at its destination, not without difficulty.
First blocked in Burkina, it was then the target of demonstrators in Niger, in violence that left two dead and injured.
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At first, this convoy was blocked by demonstrators hostile to the French presence
in Kaya in Burkina
, then on Saturday in Niger it suffered the assaults of very violent demonstrators in the city of Téra, where according to the Nigerien ministry of Inside the gendarmerie used force, citing a death toll of two dead and eighteen injured among the demonstrators.
Captain François Xavier, leader of the Sacred Way convoy, never imagined that these 2,000 kilometers of road would be so chaotic.
These logistics convoys, of around sixty heavy weights escorted by around one hundred soldiers, are usually routine.
Not this time.
Blocked by demonstrators for the first time in Kaya in Burkina,
the situation really became explosive
, less than 30 kilometers after crossing the Nigerian border, in Téra, where barricades were erected.
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To read also: Sahel: "The movement of hostility to the French presence is likely to worsen"
“
I believe I have to face a real urban guerrilla warfare,
analyzes Captain François Xavier.
At the same time as we were managing the situation in front, I could hear that the convoy was being attacked behind, that the civilians were being taken to task in the middle. This required permanent adaptation of the device. Insults and a desire not to see us on their territory, to go back. We didn't know what they expected from us. Some accused us of feeding the terrorists. I am convinced that the day before, we had smiles, greetings, and that overnight the situation degenerates without any real explanation.
"
To escape, the French soldiers say they used non-lethal weapons and only used their rifles for warning shots.
Having managed to reach Gao is a miracle, captain François Xavier blows today.
Short rest, in a few days he will be back on the road in the opposite direction, towards Abidjan.
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See also: Niger: violence in Téra during the passage of the French military convoy
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