Hyde’s response to questions relating to the security situation...

Hyde’s response to questions relating to the security situation in Burkina Faso at the Investor Webinar on 26th April 2023 .

So we continue to see, you know, unrest in the north and the east of the country however, ah, more recently it’s been, um, a result of I guess the government’s military action. I think (if) we go back to the start of the last quarter there were a lot of questions around, ah, the French leaving, and whether Russia’s Wagner Group were going to come into, into country. Um, we kind of advised, after meeting Government Officials, at Indaba in early February that, you know, we didn’t think that was the case and, um, thankfully we’re now, you know, well into April and, you know, we haven’t seen the Russian mercenary group come into country. Ah, the, the French demobilised from, from ah, Ouagadougou in February as well which, um, it went reasonably smoothly. I think since then, ah, we’ve seen the military in Burkina, ah, adopt some of the tactics the terrorists have been using in the North and the East of the country. So, um, they’re much more mobile now, they, they’re using, um, you know, motorcycles, and, and technology to, ah, to track terrorists in the north and the east of the country. Um, they’ve also acquired new equipment, so they’ve recently bought, um, Turkish drones, the TB2’s that have been very successful in, um, in the Ukraine, and, you know, over the last two months they’ve had significant success, in, in tracking down terrorists and, um, ah, and cancelling them I suppose, and, we hope that continues, um, you know, if you have a look at, you know, across the Sahel and Mali, Niger, and, and Burkina Faso, you know, there’s more than a thousand schools that are, are closed at the moment. Ah, it’s a situation that doesn’t get a lot of, um, a lot of press, um, and, you know, mostly the Burkina government and Mali government, ah, have had to take this, ah, this fight on themselves with very little international assistance so, um its pleasing to see that, you know, the Burkina government, since the, the second coup or the, the change in leadership in September last year, really have got on the front foot, ah they’ve made really good progress so, you know, we’re quite positive on, um, on the situation at the moment and we hope it kind of keeps moving in the right direction.