The holding since Saturday in Ouagadougou of the largest African film festival, FESPACO, testifies to Burkina Faso’s “resilience” in the face of jihadist attacks which have intensified in recent months.
According to Alex Moussa Sawadogo, general delegate of the Ouagadougou Pan-African Film and Television Festival, “We had to convince our government and partners of the importance of FESPACO in such difficult times”. “I am very happy, even proud, that our authorities have decided to organize this event,” he adds.
The country, the scene of two coups in 2022, has been caught since 2015 in a spiral of jihadist violence that appeared in Mali and Niger a few years earlier.
“Burkina Faso is a resilient country,” says Mr. Sawadogo, who refuses to give in to the imagination of a country “painted in red”, about the many chancelleries which advise their nationals against going there.