The West In Shocked As Burkina Faso Takes Control Of A Gold-rich Region From Rebels.

#africanews #burkinafaso #ibrahimtraoré As you well know, Burkina Faso is one of the African countries blessed with gold, as a mineral resource, and it is the country’s major export. However, when President Traore took over the helm of leadership in Burkina Faso, he noted that Burkina Faso had no control over its gold mining industry because it had been left in the control of foreign companies and the jihadists who control some mining sites and use it to finance their operations. Captain Traore has been able to remove the control that foreign companies have over its gold resources by banning the export of gold and constructing the country’s first gold refinery as well as the country’s first mining waste processing facility for mining residues. All these moves are to ensure that control of Burkina Faso’s gold rests in the hands of the government and not foreign companies who are only interested in making billions of profit. But what has Traore done to wrest control of the country’s gold from terrorists? According to Traore, a lot of gold leaves Burkina fraudulently, and this moreover helps to fuel terrorism” and so he decided to first, suspend gold exports. Now, how does this help to fight these terrorists? Well, by suspending gold exports, Traore has cut off a major source of funds for these terrorists. You see artisanal gold production constitutes half of the total gold production in Burkina Faso and this is why it’s very easy for terrorists and jihadists to pose as normal citizens of Burkina Faso and take control of several gold mines which they use in fuelling terrorism in Burkina Faso. This has led to the closure of four industrial mines and the abandonment of nearly 700 gold-panning sites in 2022, which has also led to a reduction in the total output of gold produced in recent times. So, by suspending gold exports, these terrorists would no longer be able to export gold and hence no funding. But this is not enough because these gold mines are still controlled by the terrorists and even though gold exports have been suspended, they may still be smuggling gold out of the country through routes the government is not aware of. This is why Traore decided to launch a military operation to take complete control of these gold mines.