
The military coup in Burkina Faso deals another heavy blow to France's fading efforts to stabilise the Sahel region, where Islamist militants have grown in strength and people's attitudes towards former colonial masters have hardened.
Successive coups in Mali, Chad and now Burkina Faso have weakened Paris' local alliances, emboldened jihadists who control large swathes of territory and opened the door for Russia to fill the vacuum.