For his first visit to the country, the Chief of Staff of the French Armed Forces, General Thierry Burkhard, appointed last year, met his Ivorian counterpart and the Minister of Defence, before going to the Anti- Jacqueville terrorist.
With our correspondent in Abidjan, Sidy Yansane
It’s a visit at a run for General Thierry Burkhard. After an exchange with the Ivorian Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, General Lassina Doumbia, and the Minister of Defense, Téné Birahima Ouattara, the senior French officer went to Jacqueville to visit the premises of ľInternational Counter Terrorism Academyinaugurated last June.
A project that will strengthen the autonomy of the Ivorian forces to fight against the increasingly real jihadist threat in Côte d’Ivoire and in the sub-region, according to General Thierry Burkhard. ” The goal is to benefit the countries of the sub-region. Last year it was 350 trainees who came to work here. Ivorian soldiers, judges, police officers, Ivorian gendarmes… But it is also these same people who come from other countries in the sub-region. And that is something that is extremely important “, he details.
“We too must be able to communicate”
At the regional level, the French Chief of Staff also insists on the need for armies to communicate on the merits of their operations, while the presence of French forces is increasingly decried.
Taking the example of malithe general believes that “ the repeated massacres produced by the terrorists, in absolute terms, this is not winning the hearts of the populations. And for all that, they manage to weaken the governments in place and develop sentiment against the French army. So that means that we too must be able to communicate, to show what we do. The French army, like the Ivorian army and the African armies, must progress in this area. “.
General Burkhard also supported the security apparatus of the Ivorian army on its northern border, regularly targeted by attacks attributed to jihadist groups.