Burkina Faso ends military alliance with ex-colonial ruler

(RT) ⸻ Burkina Faso has officially renounced a 1961 treaty between the West African nation and France, giving France 30 days to withdraw all military personnel from the country. The Burkinabe Foreign Ministry informed France that Burkina Faso was "renouncing the technical military assistance agreement reached in Paris on April 24 1961." The treaty was concluded just months after the former colony of Upper Volta had gained independence from France and was the legal basis for French military intervention in the country against jihadist militants. Ouagadougou's move comes just days after France lowered the flag on its military base near the Burkinabe capital and withdrew some 400 troops that had previously been deployed on a counter-insurgency mission. French President Emmanuel Macron has sought to describe the process as a "reorganization" and "not a withdrawal" from the continent, and has declared Russia to be a "reasonable" choice of new partner in the fight against the militants. However, Paris accused Moscow of "neocolonial political involvement" in Africa, after Russia declared the age of French imperialism over.