Chapter 978 Close Cooperation
In Barron’s previous life, the coup in Burkina Faso occurred in October 2014.
At that time, Compaore had been in power in Burkina Faso for 27 years. He was re-elected as president three times in 1998, 2005 and 2010.
According to the then Burkina Faso constitution, in 2015, Compaore would reach the limit of presidential re-election and would not be able to participate in the general election again. For this reason, Compaore pushed for a constitutional amendment at the time to remove his Re-election limits.
For this reason, Compaore’s behavior was reflected in the high prices and economic downturn in Burkina Faso at that time. The people could no longer tolerate Compaore’s behavior of continuing to maintain power. In the capital Ouagadougou, there were more than 100,000 people took to the streets to protest against Compaore's "constitutional amendments."
Just when Compaore announced that the country had entered a state of abstinence, the military headed by Traore announced a coup and seized power with arms, thus overthrowing Compaore's rule in Burkina Faso.
It’s just that now, the coup in Burkina Faso happened 10 months ahead of schedule...
According to the intelligence obtained by Barron, the reason why the coup in Burkina Faso happened ahead of schedule was due to many reasons. It has something to do with Khloe...
It is not that Kolo has intervened in Burkina Faso’s domestic politics, although Barron’s think tank has proposed that in order to consolidate cooperation among the West African Free Trade Area countries, this organization should be transformed from economic cooperation to economic, political and cooperation in all aspects including military affairs.
However, Barron still did not interfere too directly in the internal affairs of Colo's neighboring countries, especially the armed forces such as the Colo Legion, and did not participate in the affairs of other countries - even for Burkina Faso. Military training provided by countries such as Mali and Niger is also conducted through Protector Military Services.
The reason for doing this is also to show that Colo and the West African Group behind it are different from the old imperialist countries such as Britain and France. They only pursue economic cooperation and will not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries.
In Barron's previous life, why were Russian Magnar mercenaries able to develop rapidly in countries such as Niger and Mali, and were even accepted by these countries to fight against France and help them expel France from these countries? What about the garrison?
The main reason is that they can be more assured of Magna, knowing that the other party just wants to "make money". They can provide help in exchange for the domestic mineral resources and funds of these countries, but they have no control over the internal affairs of these countries. interest.
Now Colo also hopes to give these countries such an image, so that he can gain the trust of each other without being suspected, fearing that they will be controlled by them again after they drive away the French.
Barron’s influence on some countries in West Africa is mainly carried out through some cooperation projects of the Prosperous Earth Foundation. These projects are very low-key and not radical. They are similar to some French NGO organizations. It's nothing at all.
It's just that some of the young officers who launched the military coup in Burkina Faso this time have participated in Burkina Faso's peacekeeping operations in Mali and have had more contact with the peacekeeping forces in Kolo.
At the same time, some military officers also participated in the military training conducted by Protector Military Services Company in Burkina Faso.
Especially when these people see that Kolo was once a small West African country, the lives of its people were not much different from Burkina Faso. Even some people in the north of Kolo, Life is worse than that of the people in Burkina Faso...
But now, under the leadership of the new government of Colot, Colot has undergone earth-shaking changes. There is no longer French capital that is knocking the bones and sucking the marrow. Their government is more efficient and pays more attention to the development of the domestic economy and people's livelihood, investing heavily in culture, education, and medical care. Health, transportation, water conservancy and other people's livelihood are being developed.
What the people of Kolo are living now is the life that the people of Burkina Faso have dreamed of. These young officers were greatly shocked by this.
After being shocked, they can't help but think about where Burkina Faso's path lies. Under Compaoré's notice, they can't see any hope that Burkina Faso will get better... and Burkina Faso It's not that Nafaso has never had those hopeful moments, but the person who led them to such moments has died under Compaoré's gun.
Such ideas took root and sprouted, eventually leading to the outbreak of the Burkina Faso coup.
After the transitional government of Burkina Faso took control of the domestic situation, it quickly extended an olive branch to Kolo.
On December 27, Kolo announced that it would send a delegation composed of representatives from Kolo, Niger, Benin and other West African Free Trade Area member states to Burkina Faso to discuss issues with the transitional government. Burkina Faso’s future governance path and mutual cooperation will be discussed.
Kolo President Thomas Kabore will also go to Burkina Faso with the delegation to meet with interim President Traoré.
On December 30, after two days of talks, the West African Free Trade Organization issued the "Ouagadougou Declaration", which reaffirmed the economic cooperation framework among the member states of the West African Free Trade Area and their mutual respect for each other. special preferential policies for investment and trade between the two countries.
Color will also invest in Burkina Faso through the West African Group - Burkina Faso's domestic planting industry has been dominated by cotton planting since the French rule. Before that, , they do not have any related deep processing and production industries in the country, and they sell cotton directly to French capital as one of their pillar industries.
The monopoly of French capital in Burkina Faso has also kept people in this country, which ranks fourth in gold mine production in Africa, in a state of poverty for a long time.
The West African Group will invest in the construction of textile factories in Burkina Faso to help Burkina Faso upgrade their cotton planting industry to the textile industry - this can also provide a domestic scale for Kolo The growing garment processing industry provides a relatively cheap and stable supply of fabrics, thus becoming one of the production bases for garment sales companies controlled by Barron, including Fast Retailing Group.
The agreement reached by both parties also includes energy cooperation.
In addition to Burkina Faso continuing to purchase electricity from Colo, the West African Power Group will also invest in hydroelectric and natural gas power stations in Burkina Faso to help Burkina Faso Solve its domestic power shortage situation.
According to the plan of the West African Power Group, after the completion of their large-scale solar power station in Colo, the area near the desert in Burkina Faso is also a very suitable location for establishing a solar power station. In the future, they There will be corresponding plans.
At the same time, the West African Railway Group is also negotiating with Burkina Faso and China to prepare for the construction of a building connecting Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, with its third largest city and Burkina Faso. The Wafa Railway (blue in the picture) connects Fada N'Gourma, the capital of Faso's Eastern Region (Est Region).
It is expected that the Wafa Railway will be invested by the West African Railway Group, receive loans from China, and be constructed by China Railway...
The West African Railway Group itself is a four-party joint venture between the West African Group, Colo Industrial Investment Fund, the Government of Burkina Faso and the Government of Niger. The West African Group holds 60% of its shares and the Colo Industrial Investment Fund holds 25%. % of the shares, with the remaining 15% held by the governments of Burkina Faso and Niger.
After completion, the Wafa Railway (blue line in the picture) will connect to the Dani Railway (red line in the picture), which has been mostly built, plus the main artery in Kolo that has been built earlier. Loda Railway (Port Lodi to the northernmost city of Dassault, orange line in the picture), then The capitals of Kolo, Burkina Faso and Niger will be connected through the railway network, and Burkina Faso and Niger, which are landlocked countries, will also be able to reach Port Loti, the largest port in West Africa, by railway, thus deepening the ties between the three countries. contacts and can promote trade between Burkina Faso and Niger.
(End of this chapter)